There’s a lot of buzz out there in the blogosphere about the next steps on health information technology (HIT) standards. Certainly, the recommendations of HHS’s new HIT Standards Committee to its new HIT Policy Committee clearly will inform how HHS implements the HIT provisions of the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

Many of the decisions will need to be made quickly, which is part of why John Halamka (Vice-Chair of the Standards Committee) put some of his thoughts on the Web this morning, as did Mark Leavitt, Chair of the Certification Commission for HIT (CCHIT).  Leavitt was specifically defending CCHIT’s structure in the face of a recent Washington Post article and other comments made on The Health Care Blog, among other places.

I certainly wouldn’t pretend to have all the technical answers for the HIT Standards Committee. The Center for Information Therapy firmly believes that we need to advance the discussion productively, as I believe virtually all of those engaging in online dialog are trying to do.

Among the most critical issues that has not been adequately addressed is the relationship of standards-setting to the ultimate impact on consumers’ access to meaningful, useful electronic information to help them manage their health. An Issue Brief I wrote a few years ago for the California HealthCare Foundation is just as relevant today (maybe more so given the stakes involved in 2009!), so I’d highly recommend it to those interested in improving health care delivery.

The basic premise of the CHCF Issue Brief, “Lost in Translation: Consumer Health Information in an Interoperable World,” is:

“…Availability of information does not necessarily translate into understanding or taking appropriate actions. While momentum builds for a National Health Information Network infrastructure, it remains unclear what role patients will play in the interconnected world of providers.

“…As clinical information becomes more directly available to consumers through the Internet or through other electronic communications from providers, a mechanism for meaningful, consistent translation to engage consumers is lagging…”

I urge all those working hard to drive forward meaningful use of HIT to consider the issues raised in this CHCF Issue Brief and ensure that HIT implementation leads to more effective and efficient care for everyone.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 26th, 2009 at 12:46 pm and is filed under EHRs, Engaging Consumers, Inside the Beltway, PHRs, Standards Development. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.