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Chicago - The National Alliance for Health Information Technology (Alliance) is participating in an important project for the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) to develop consensus-based definitions for key health information technology terms. Under the direction of management and technology consulting firm BearingPoint, Inc. (NYSE: BE), the Alliance will create and secure industry endorsement of definitions for electronic health record (EHR), electronic medical record (EMR), personal health record (PHR), health information exchange (HIE) and regional health information organization (RHIO).

"A plethora of competing and confusing definitions, with terms often used interchangeably, is impeding progress in health information technology," says Karen M. Bell, MD, director of ONC's Office of Health IT Adoption. "A common understanding and use of terms are essential for facilitating IT adoption and innovation and achieving a useful exchange of health information to improve patient outcomes."



"With its proven consensus-building process that engages all sectors of the industry, the Alliance is ideally suited to help us reach broad agreement and endorsement of critical definitions among healthcare stakeholders, including legislators and policymakers," Bell adds.

The Alliance has developed a highly participatory approach to decision-making, generating solutions that are endorsed by its members from across healthcare and by other thought leaders. Using this successful approach, the Alliance established a widely adopted definition for healthcare interoperability that has been included in proposed legislation as well as revisions to the regulations governing Safe Harbor/Anti-kickback (aka Stark rules.) It also collaborated with peer organizations to found the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology and the EHR Collaborative.

As a first step in the definitions project, organizations may submit definitions for EHR, EMR, PHR, HIE and RHIO for consideration by November 2 at definitions.nahit.org The Alliance will simultaneously conduct a literature search to identify and categorize all known definitions of the terms.

To ensure broad participation, volunteer-based work groups will be formed that represent all healthcare segments and will be composed of experts and thought leaders with relevant experience and knowledge. Submissions for work group candidates will be accepted between November 5 and November 16, 2007 at definitions.nahit.org.

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