AHRQ and HealthIT.Gov Post EMR Information

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has posted an Electronic Health Record (EHR)  primer for physicians and hospitals.  This primer provides guidance for providers in the use of EMRs.  The AHRQ’s mission:

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality's (AHRQ) mission is to produce evidence to make health care safer, higher quality, more accessible, equitable, and affordable, and to work within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and with other partners to make sure that the evidence is understood and used.

The AHRQ primer references the Safety Assurance Factors for EHR Resilience (SAFER) guides, developed by HealthIT.gov, the official site for Health IT Information.  Because certified EHRs are part of CMS’ quality programs in FFS Medicare, the guides were developed to aid providers in the implementation and use of them.   

The SAFER guides provide  an additional resource for providers seeking information on EHRs.  The following SAFER guides are available:

·         High Priority Practice

·         Contingency Planning

·         System Interfaces

·         Computerized Provider Order Entry with Decision Support

·         Clinician Communication

·         Organizational Responsibilities

·         System Configuration

·         Patient Identification

·         Test Results Reporting and Follow Up

Finally, AHRQ has developed free CME (1 CME unit for American Board of Internal Medicine) and Medical Knowledge/Patient Safety credit (up to 45 MOC points).   There is a related CME program, The Hazards of Distraction: Ticking All the EHR Boxes available on the AHRQ site (registration required).

We hope this information is helpful.