ONC

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) is at the forefront of the administration's health IT efforts

Personalization of Patient Portals : a way to achieve engagement and true meaningful use

Posted: June 24,2015

In the proposed rule for Meaningful Use Stage 3 the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) has made significant changes to the patient engagement recommendations that are causing controversy amongst EHR vendors, Doctors, and the media. These recommendations include three measures of engagement, and providers would have to report on all three of them, but successfully meet thresholds on only two.

Some claim that these requirements are too burdensome, and that they may not be achievable giving what is achievable in the marketplace today.

Patient Engagement, Usability, and Meaningful Use Stage 3

Posted: May 1,2015

Patient Engagement

Patient engagement was a very hot topic at the recent HIMSS conference in Chicago. There was no shortage of exhibitors promoting their patient engagement tools and there were also several presentations that contained suggestions for better engaging patients. Some exhibitors that we spoke to were not aware of the proposed patient engagement rules (described below) and were very excited at the prospect of greater use of their tools.

Interoperability, Usability, and the ONC 2015 Edition Certification

Posted: March 26,2015

"Satisfaction and usability ratings for certified electronic health records (EHRs) have decreased since 2010 among clinicians across a range of indicators.”

This announcement was made 5 years ago the 2013 Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Conference & Exhibition by Michael S. Barr, MD, MBA, FACP.

ONC Guide Aims To Improve Providers' Use of Electronic Prescribing

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT has released a guide designed to assist providers with electronic prescribing, Becker's Health IT & CIO Review reports (Jayanthi, Becker's Health IT & CIO Review, 2/19). 

Background

About 70% of physicians e-prescribe, and about 90% of pharmacies are able to accept e-prescriptions, according to ONC.

Studies have shown e-prescribing can reduce drug costs and assist with medication management (Durben Hirsch, FierceEMR, 2/17).

Meanwhile, e-prescribing of controlled substances is legal in just 48 states and Washington, D.C. Legislation to allow e-prescribing of such medications by mid-2015 is pending in Missouri and Montana (Surescripts release, 2/19).

Guide Details

According to FierceEMR, the guide, called "A Prescription for e-Prescribers: Getting the Most Out of Electronic Prescribing," aims to help prescribers learn about e-prescribing. In addition, the guide shows prescribers ways to improve their use of e-prescribing and outlines the eight stages of the process. Those stages are:

  • Identify the patient;
  • Review existing patient data;
  • Select a drug from a menu in the electronic health record;
  • Enter information for the pharmacy;
  • Review advisories and alerts;
  • Choose a pharmacy;
  • Authorize and sign prescription; and
  • Review expectations with patients, monitor e-prescribing logs and manage electronic renewal requests.

The guide also poses some questions for e-prescribers to consider, such as whether the EHR lets a prescriber store a patient's preferred pharmacy (FierceEMR, 2/17).

"Some of these changes can result in decreased pharmacy call backs to the practice, increased patient satisfaction and improved e-prescribing productivity," according to the guide. It added, "Recommendations to create unambiguous prescriptions with standardized information enable effective clinical decision support and enhanced patient safety" (Walsh, Clinical Innovation & Technology, 2/19).

ONC has said the guide is best-suited to prescribers who use EHRs to send e-prescriptions, rather than a standalone system (FierceEMR, 2/17).

Source: iHealthBeat, Monday, February 23, 2015

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