Two new resources from the ONC seek to help healthcare providers get the most out of their health IT. The agency has released an EHR contract guide to help providers and administrators through the process of acquiring an EHR system and a health IT playbook offering resources to using EHRs and other IT platforms when delivering care.
The EHR contract guide called “EHR Contracts Untangled” is geared toward healthcare professionals and decision-makers who are planning and negotiating an EHR or health IT acquisition. The guide seeks to help readers better understand and communicate their EHR requirements to potential vendors, negotiate contract terms and manage potential risks.
The guide touches on topics including EHR safety and security, data rights, interoperability, intellectual property, managing risks and liability, resolving disagreements with EHR vendors and questions regarding switching EHRs.
The Health IT Playbook is an online resource branching off from the ONC’s Patient Engagement Playbook released earlier this year. It offers tools and guides to help providers implement and use health IT in the most optimal way, addressing areas like patient engagement, interoperability, population health, value-based care and more.
“Making these available as a digital information resource that providers can easily navigate for answers is one way to address this question [of getting health IT to work efficiently and effectively] and ease the burden of implementing and using health IT,” according to the introduction to the playbook. “The Health IT Playbook provides actionable steps for addressing many of these challenges and offers healthcare providers guidance on how to implement and use health IT to advance care information and delivery.”
The ONC is launching the guide to kick off National Health IT week, which began Monday.
“I know from my experiences practicing emergency medicine and managing information technology for a health system how helpful practical tools can be for clinicians and healthcare administrators as they navigate the purchase and use of health IT,” said National Coordinator B. Vindell Washington, MD, in a statement.
