What do you call an organization that governs a health information exchange if the HIE is not regional in scope?
That question is being asked by a group of experienced health information technology leaders near the end of a federally sponsored project to develop more precise definitions of some often-used health information technology terms in HIT.
Some might call such an organization an HIE, but the project participants have tentatively concluded that "HIE" refers to the process of exchanging information -- not to any organization.
If it were regional, the organization would be called a regional health information organization, or RHIO. However, an HIE organization for cardiac specialists nationwide (a hypothetical example) could not be called a RHIO.
The project leaders at the National Alliance for Health IT are inviting the public to suggest names for the non-geographic entity that operates an HIE.
The project also has drawn a distinction between the terms e-medical record and e-health record, often used interchangeably. An EMR, it says, is created and maintained by people from one organization, such as a hospital. An EHR is an aggregate of health records from more than one health care organization.
And it is proposing to change the common term “personal health record” or PHR to ePHR.
More precise definitions from the project and some rationale for its decisions are included in a 36-page draft report, “Defining Key Health Information Technology Terms.” The project is funded by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT.
The public is invited to comment online on the report and the definitions until April 9.
Government Health IT presents Rick Friedman, director of the division of state systems for the Center for Medicaid and State Operations with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, in this recent eSeminar regarding how the federal Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services is partnering with state Medicaid and health and human services officials to bring Medicaid into the digital age. Paul McCloskey, Government Health IT editor, moderates.
