The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology has released the first "Beacon Nation" learning guide, based on the experiences of the Beacon Community Program members.
The guide aims to help hospitals improve patient transitions and readmission rates by
using admission, discharge and transfer-based alerts through their electronic health records. It lays out important considerations for an organization that is interested in implementing processes that involve these alerts. The guide is the first of six that will be released over the year.
The Beacon Community Program is designed to show how strengthening local health IT infrastructure can improve quality and efficiency of healthcare. The ONC provided the 17 communities that participated in the program with $250 million over three years.
More Articles on Beacon Community Program:
6 Lessons Regarding Local EHR, HIE Adoption
New Initiative Aims to Study HITECH's Beacon Program to Improve Patient Care
ONC's Beacon Communities Provide Building Blocks for ACOs