For the second time in two months, the National Alliance for Health IT is seeking public comment on draft definitions for certain health IT terms, Healthcare IT News reports (Monegain, Healthcare IT News, 3/25).
The alliance's network workgroup is considering definitions for "regional health information organization" and "health information exchange," while its records workgroup is considering definitions for "electronic medical records," "electronic health records," and "personal health records" (Health Data Management, 3/25).
The group has made a distinction between the terms EMR and EHR. According to the new definitions, EMRs are created and maintained by individuals from one organization, such as a hospital, while EHRs are an aggregate of patient records from more than one health organization (Ferris, Government Health IT, 3/25).
In addition, the group revised its definition of HIE to cover only the process of electronic exchange, not the governing entity. As a result, the group is seeking comments on names and definitions for a sixth term to describe the governing entity of an HIE (Health Data Management, 3/25).
The alliance, tasked with the project by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, is working with Bearing Point to define the terms (Healthcare IT News, 3/25).
The public can review the draft definitions and make comments through April 9 (DerGurahian, Modern Healthcare, 3/25).