Electronic Health Records

Today, the medical information for a patient is scattered among various providers who most often store it in thick paper files. Although pieces of this overall record may be in electronic format, they are probably located on different, incompatible health information systems. There is no coordinated, standardized system that integrates a the medical information of a patient within and across care settings. EHRs and EHR systems can provide this capability. But first, patient information must be captured digitally for a common set of EHR functions. To be successful, digital patient information must be accurate, sharable, and improve workflow. EHR systems must be integrated, secure, and interoperable, yet not be prohibitive to implement.

The contribution of NIST emphasizes a pivotal aspect, the interoperability of EHR systems. We are supporting implementation and integration efforts via the development of conformance criteria, tests, and tools. In particular, we work with HL7 in defining standard functionality and conformance criteria for EHR systems. This criteria forms the basis for EHR certification efforts. Collaborating with HL7 and the HIMSS Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) Project, we are designing distributed models and architectures for healthcare information systems (e.g., IHE profiles, EHR Functional Model). Additionally,we have provided comments and assistance to EHR certification efforts such as the Certification Commission for Healthcare Information Technology (CCHIT).

Downloads

IHE Open Source Project: XDS software (html file)

Message Maker Prototype (html file)

Healthcare Standards Landscape (html file)

Healthcare Information Standards and Testing, A Concept Paper (pdf file)

Conformance Testing and Certification Framework, White Paper (pdf file)

What is This Thing Called Conformance, White Paper (html file)

Principles for Writing Conformance Criteria (pdf file)

Building HL7 EHR-S Conformance Criteria, Slide presentation (html file)