Final HHS Health IT Safety Plan issued today

Final HHS Health IT Safety Plan issued today

Final HHS Health IT Safety Plan issued today

Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology sent this bulletin at 07/02/2013 11:36 AM EDT

Final HHS Health IT Safety Plan issued today

The HHS Health IT Patient Safety Action and Surveillance Plan was issued today. The Safety Plan addresses the role of health IT in helping to eliminate medical errors, protect patients and improve the quality and safety of health care.

The Safety Plan is implemented by ONC. It outlines the responsibilities to be shared across HHS and details significant participation from the private sector.

• ONC will make it easier for clinicians to report health IT-related incidents and hazards through the use of certified electronic health record technology.
• The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality will encourage reporting to Patient Safety Organizations and will develop ambulatory Common Formats that will enhance reporting of health IT events outside the hospital.
• The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will encourage the use of the Common Formats in hospital incident reporting systems, and train surveyors to identify safe and unsafe practices associated with health IT.
• Working through a public-private process, ONC will develop priorities for improving the safety of health IT. ONC and CMS will consider adopting safety-related objectives, measures, and capabilities for certified electronic health records (EHRs) through the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs and ONC’s standards and certification criteria.

ONC also has posted guidance clarifying that ONC-Authorized Certification Bodies (ONC-ACBs) will be expected to verify whether safety-related capabilities work properly in live clinical settings in which they are implemented.

Finally, under a new ONC contract, The Joint Commission will be working to better detect and proactively address potential health IT-related safety issues across a variety of health care settings. More information about the Health IT Patient Safety Action and Surveillance Plan, the ONC-ACB surveillance guide and the new project with The Joint Commission can all be found at the Health IT and Patient Safety webpage.