ONC unveils Million Hearts EHR Optimization guides
The Office of National Coordinator for Health IT has released the Million Hearts EHR Optimization Guides which will "help healthcare professionals use their EHR systems to identify at-risk patients and protect them from heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular events," according to a blog post written by the agency's chief medical officer, Thomas A. Mason, MD.
The EHR Optimization Guides offer step-by-step instructions on how providers can use their EHR products to find, use and improve data on the “ABCS”:
- Aspirin therapy when appropriate
- Blood pressure control
- Cholesterol management
- Smoking cessation
"Ultimately, these guides facilitate the timely and systematic identification of at-risk patients, helping clinical teams across the country protect their patients from heart attacks, strokes and other cardiovascular events," Mason wrote.
He said NextGen, Cerner and Allscripts are the vendors that responded to ONC's open Call to Action to develop vendor-specific guides around extracting patient-level data on the seven Million Hearts measures to assist healthcare professionals with planning performance and quality improvement interventions.
"We would like to encourage all EHR vendors to collaborate with ONC on developing additional Million Hearts EHR Optimization Guides," Mason wrote.
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.