AAFP lists three conditions for NwHIN governance
The American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) has included three conditions necessary for optimal use of Direct protocols in its comment letter to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT in response to a request for information on governance of the Nationwide Health Information Network (NwHIN).
The three recommended conditions:
Read the AAFP’s comment letter in full here.
The three recommended conditions:
- Direct standard integration with certified EHR technologies. “As the number of providers and hospitals who have adopted and are now using certified EHR technology grows, the tendency is for users to want all of the functionality for care management to occur within the ‘interface’ of their chosen EHR. Therefore, the integration of clinical messaging via the Direct protocols and specifications becomes more and more important with each passing month,” the letter read.
- Establishment and maintenance of a security and trust framework. “For this to occur, we believe that industry participants who provide Directed exchange services must be held accountable to a code of conduct that is enforceable, transparent to all parties, and flexible enough to accommodate change, innovation and competition within the market place. To build this trust, the infrastructure requires not only standards and technology, but also a coherent collective agreement.”
- Predictability in the health IT market. “If there is to be orderly and sustainable growth of Directed exchange in the U.S., the market composed of the entities who are essential service providers, e.g. HISPs, CAs, EHRs and personal health records, must be presented with clear and consistent signals regarding the commitment of the federal agencies involved in promoting health data and information exchange standards. Lacking those signals, the effects of uncertainty, confusion and non-standard or arbitrary instances of local governance of Direct may delay the investments and resources that these vendors need to make in order to be ready to meet market demand.”
Read the AAFP’s comment letter in full here.
Beth Walsh,
Editor
Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.