Draft Requirements for EHR

Draft requirements for electronic health records that are intended to detect fraud and claims errors have been posted for public comment, Technology Daily reports (Technology Daily, 1/16).The requirements are based on guiding principles established during an earlier phase of the project contract with the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, AHA News reports. Comments, which will be submitted to the Certification Commission for Health IT, are due on Jan. 22 (AHA News, 1/16).HHS publicly announced late Friday afternoon the more than 60 proposed requirements in 16 categories, Modern Healthcare reports (Conn, Modern Healthcare, 1/15). One proposed requirement would enable users to view the method of entry for each piece of data. "Having an audit version of the (records that) indicates which of these tools were used could enable detection of patterns of abuse or fraud," RTI International researchers said (Technology Daily, 1/16).The Web site for RTI International, which created two work groups to prepare the recommendations, states that "the term 'model requirements' used in this project is meant to indicate a product that will be put forth as recommended criteria for future EHR certifications," adding that the criteria "will not become official requirements unless they are adopted as such by entities in the future." Some privacy advocates oppose the draft requirements. Dr. Deborah Peel, founder of the Patient Privacy Rights Foundation, in a response writes, "This draft is yet another instance of ONCHIT/HHS putting corporate interests ahead of the lives and health of the American people." She adds that the requirements "eliminate patients' fundamental rights to control access to their medical records, by claiming that such access is needed to detect fraud" (Modern Healthcare, 1/15).