With a $275,000 award from the ONC, Boston Children's Hospital plans to develop a website where providers can compare EHR apps.
The money is part of the ONC's $625,000 pledged funding support to develop a FHIR App Ecosystem, where developers using the Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources standard and open, standardized application programming interfaces can share information on their apps to help providers select the best app for their needs.
The cooperative agreement between ONC and Boston Children's requires the hospital to conduct market research among providers to identify what they need to compare FHIR-enabled apps, create the online resource for providers to find and compare EHR apps and develop a way for providers to test EHR apps.
"Our capability to search for, discover, compare and test existing applications has been limited and this lack of available information may contribute to a lag in the diffusion of innovation across the health IT application ecosystem," according to the ONC. "These collaborative efforts will help build a stronger health IT ecosystem, where consumers and providers can get the health information they need, when and where they need it most."
More articles on EHRs:
Perspective: EHRs, HIEs must collaborate with EMS for patient safety
FDA releases guidance on using EHRs in clinical trials
38% of execs want telemedicine programs built onto their EHRs & 6 other survey takeaways