Healthcare IT News - October 2007 - (Page 12)

12 Healthcare IT News October 2007 ■ industry news www.HealthcareITNews.com CCHIT takes open source route to interoperability testing The Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology last month announced it would be working with McLean, Va.-based MITRE Corp. to develop open-source software to evaluate the compatibility of healthcare IT systems. The testing software will be free and publicly available. CCHIT will use the software on a secure platform while testing CHICAGO – products for compliance. CCHIT officials said the new initiative would make it easier for health information technology companies to add standards-based information exchange capabilities to their products and prepare those products for certification. There is broad agreement that we need a national resource of this type in order to make faster progress toward interoperability, said CCHIT Chairman Mark Leavitt, MD. “It will be a big job, so we hope many others will collaborate – health IT companies, government entities and others,” he said. “That’s why CCHIT and MITRE chose the open source project model. It’s in sync with the commission’s transparent, volunteerbased processes as well.” The first focus of the project is expected to be the development of a tool to verify standards compli- ONLY HEALTHCARE | ONLY API API’s Labor Resource Management Solutions Rated Category Leaders by KLAS TIME & ATTENDANCE STAFFING & SCHEDULING ance of a continuity of care tool to be ready in time for document sent or received CCHIT’s 2008 pilot testing by EHRs. and certification launch. “The ASTM/HL7 CCD is This collaboration a core element in several of advances the potential for the AHIC (American Health extraordinary teamwork Information Community) around one of the most Mark Leavitt, MD use cases and is becomimportant public interest ing the standard for exchanging concerns of our time – EHR and patient summary information,” network interoperability, said Rob said Leavitt. Jensen, MITRE’s executive direcThe project schedule calls for the tor for Healthcare. “It’s a complicated major challenge and we share CCHIT’s enthusiasm that others will join in the project through the open source model.” The MITRE Corp. is a not-forprofit organization chartered to work solely in the public interest. MITRE manages three federally funded research and development centers sponsored by the Department of Defense, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the Internal Revenue Service. MITRE’s healthcare division is focused on improving healthcare quality by transforming healthcare enterprises. “We believe the certification commission’s collaboration with MITRE in this open source initiative will significantly advance interoperability, with the goal of encouraging investment in products that will improve the quality and efficiency of care,” said Sam Karp, vice president of programs at the California HealthCare Foundation. ■ More AT HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: CCHIT 1007 ● MONITOR Continued from page 8 api software, inc.’s Payrollmation® system is ranked No. 1 in the Time and Attendance market category in the “Top 20 Mid-Year Report Card,” published June 2007. www.healthcomputing.com. api software, inc.’s ActiveStaffer® system is ranked No. 1 in the Staff/Nurse Scheduling market category in the “Top 20 Mid-Year Report Card,” published June 2007. www.healthcomputing.com. Copyright 2007 KLAS Enterprises, LLC. All rights reserved. Copyright 2007 KLAS Enterprises, LLC. All rights reserved. With an exclusive focus on the healthcare industry, API delivers time and attendance, staffing and scheduling, payroll/HR and workflow applications designed to control labor costs and increase efficiency. To learn more or to request the white paper “Integrated Labor Resource Management Systems,” call 262-670-2733 or visit www.apisoftwareinc.com/hcitn. Systems. “Improving medication management is far more than e prescribing. The center needs to expand its focus to all aspects of medication management.” Even supporters of the center concede that a broad focus is important. For instance, Carl Dirks, MD, the chief medical information officer at Saint Luke’s Health System in Kansas City, Mo., stressed the need for real research. “I think that they will increase the number of physician practices that adopt e-prescribing,” he said. “I would hope, however, that the center focuses on the unintended consequences of the e-prescribing process, such as selecting the incorrect pharmacy for transmission, or pharmacy personnel who are inadequately trained to receive electronic prescriptions – which is a huge barrier in the Kansas City market.” Cindy Jackson, RN, a health system physician liaison for information management at St. Luke’s Episcopal Health System in Houston, Texas, says it would take more than research to push e-prescribing into the mainstream. Only “when the payers join forces to offer more pay-for-performance [incentives] will changes occur.” ■ More AT HealthcareITNews.com e Connect: MoNITor 1007 e ● Connect: API 1007 www.apisoftwareinc.com/hcitn ● http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=7826 http://www.healthcomputing.com http://www.healthcomputing.com http://www.apisoftwareinc.com/hcitn http://www.apisoftwareinc.com/hcitn http://HealthcareITNews.com http://www.healthcareitnews.com/eConnect.cms?id=7894 http://www.healthcareitnews.com/story.cms?id=7825

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Healthcare IT News - October 2007 Contents Global Harmony Telegrowth New Rules Keeping Tabs What's Free? PHR of Its Own Intelligent Closing Practice Management Paper Tiger

Healthcare IT News - October 2007

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