The Fight to Control COVID-19 Demands Data

For COVID-19 resources for health IT developers and other stakeholders, click here.

COVID-19 arrived unexpectedly as a highly contagious disease that surprised everyone, requiring healthcare providers and public health officials to take quick action and make decisions on how to care for those infected, how to slow down (if not prevent) the spread, how to improve treatment options, and how to identify a vaccine. Yet this pandemic continues to take too many lives and affect too many more.  

To understand how to treat the patients, which risk factors make some people more vulnerable, and why it spread so fast, access to data has been proven essential. A patient’s clinical record to facilitate treating those who are ill, combined with further socio-demographic data to research and identify those at highest risk and new data to support clinical trials – all are essential to flatten and ultimately bend the curve as far down as possible. 

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by EHRA on September 9, 2020  •  Permalink
Posted in COVID-19, Health IT Standards, Interoperability, Public Policy and Health IT

Posted by EHRA on September 9, 2020

https://ehrablog.org/2020/09/09/the-fight-to-control-covid-19-demands-data/

Because COVID-19 Didn’t Erase the Opioid Crisis… How Health IT Can Support Opioid Tapering Plans

Screen Shot 2020-05-18 at 6.37.00 PMThe COVID-19 crisis started to consume the United States just as it had been turning the corner on the most severe chapter of the opioid crisis. Opioid prescribing rates and drug overdose rates both remain distressingly high, and some patients on opioids are more vulnerable to impacts from COVID-19. At the same time, for patients with severe chronic pain, opioids are clinically indicated, and provide meaningful relief from a life of constant pain that could otherwise be debilitating. For these individuals, prescribers are often challenged with adhering to CDC guidelines and state laws that limit opioid use while effectively treating pain, and this is especially true for patients who have been treated with higher doses of opioids for extended periods of time. 

The EHR Association’s Opioid Crisis Task Force has written a white paper to comment on the role that health information technologies, including EHRs, can play in assisting physicians with responsible opioid tapering.
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by EHRA on May 20, 2020  •  Permalink
Posted in COVID-19, Opioid Crisis, Patient Safety and Health IT, Uncategorized, Value of HIT

Posted by EHRA on May 20, 2020

https://ehrablog.org/2020/05/20/how-health-it-can-support-opioid-tapering-plans/

Protecting Your Organization and Yourself from Coronavirus-Related Scams and Malware

By Justin Armstrong
Chair, EHRA Privacy & Security Workgroup

For updated COVID-19 resources for health IT developers and other stakeholders, click here.

Untitled design(5)In the midst of a healthcare crisis like COVID-19, the furthest things from the minds of many may be cybersecurity. However, now is the time for a heightened alert level. Attackers frequently take advantage of current news and distracted organizations, and the COVID-19 crisis is no different. 

Forbes reports that “there are now more than 40,000 ‘high-risk’ COVID-19 threats on the web.” Hackers have already attacked or attempted attacks on the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, the World Health Organization, a vaccine test center, hospitals, a public health department, and other healthcare organizations in the U.S. and around the world. The increase in teleworking opens up new avenues of risk. 

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by EHRA on April 30, 2020  •  Permalink
Posted in COVID-19, Privacy and Security

Posted by EHRA on April 30, 2020

https://ehrablog.org/2020/04/30/protecting-your-organization-and-yourself-from-coronavirus-related-scams-and-malware/

Coronavirus: How EHRs Are Supporting Clinicians

For updated COVID-19 resources for health IT developers and other stakeholders, click here.

Coronavirus-badge-300As cases of COVID-19 caused by the novel coronavirus continue to be identified in more and more locations, clinicians are understandably concerned with the challenge of diagnosing potential cases among their patients presenting with flu-like symptoms. EHR developers have prepared for crises like this, and resources embedded in EHRs can help. Read the full post »

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by EHRA on March 12, 2020  •  Permalink
Posted in Usability and Clinician Experience, Value of HIT

Posted by EHRA on March 12, 2020

https://ehrablog.org/2020/03/12/coronavirus-how-ehrs-are-supporting-clinicians/

Recruiting Healthcare Cybersecurity Staff Takes Creativity

By Justin Armstrong
Chair, EHRA Privacy & Security Workgroup

Cybersecurity help wanted(2)It’s not news that, from the front line security analyst to the CISO level, there’s a shortage of skilled healthcare cybersecurity staff.  

Thankfully, interest in cybersecurity has never been greater! There is a career in cybersecurity to fit every personality, temperament, and level of technical acumen. Some positions require intense focus and deep technical knowledge, while others require interpersonal skills.

How can you find talent in such a tight market? There are several good avenues.

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by EHRA on February 13, 2020  •  Permalink
Posted in Privacy and Security

Posted by EHRA on February 13, 2020

https://ehrablog.org/2020/02/13/recruiting-healthcare-cybersecurity-staff-takes-creativity/

Usability Begins With The User

By the EHR Association’s Clinician Experience Workgroup

world usability day logoToday is World Usability Day. On November 14, events around the globe celebrate how developers can make our world easier for all with technology that works to harness human potential. This year’s World Usability Day theme, “Design for the Future We Want,” is inspired by the United Nation’s (UN’s) 17 Sustainable Development Goals—number three on the list is health and wellness. 

EHRA has scheduled its next Usability Summit for January 29, 2020 in Washington DC

Incorporating user-centered design into health IT contributes to better patient care by considering individual users’ preferred style, vocabulary, information visualization, and workflow in software development decisions. The goal is for EHRs to not only be usable, but helpful, such as by integrating clinical decision support, PDMPs, e-Prescribing, and other technology into clinicians’ workflows. Read the full post »

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by EHRA on November 14, 2019  •  Permalink
Posted in Usability and Clinician Experience

Posted by EHRA on November 14, 2019

https://ehrablog.org/2019/11/14/usability-begins-with-the-user/

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