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June 26, 2008

Strategic Planning for Managing EMRs, EHRs and PHRs

Seminar Examines Challenges of Managing Electronic Patient Data From Differing Sources Under Differing Rules

Healthcare is confronting a dizzying expansion of health information technologies, policies, rules and risks in which patient information is entering the system through new and unproven channels.

Healthcare providers and insurers of all sizes are facing challenges in adapting to electronic medical records (EMRs), while policymakers and prominent industry groups are pushing to implement electronic health records (EHRs). Meanwhile, Microsoft’s HealthVault and Google Health are just the two most prominent personal health records (PHR) applications.

The rules and definitions governing EMRs, EHRS and PHRs are still in flux, but a few major themes are emerging:

• New federal definitions developed by the National Alliance for Health Information Technology set new foundations for healthcare information technology compliance and contracting, and need to be learned and understood.
• The relationships among EMRs, EHRs and PHRs are confused and confusing, and organizations using these systems place themselves at risk if they don’t distinguish among them carefully. When is an EMR really an EHR, and vice-versa?
• EMRs, EHRs and PHRs present information from a wide range of different sources, and the accuracy, integrity and acceptability of that information varies widely. Can a clinician rely on EHR or PHR information without knowing its source – should she even try? On the other hand, can a physician afford to ignore or discount it?
• HIPAA requirements will expand either through direct or indirect ways as a consensus builds over the limitations of the privacy and security rules. Legislation expanding health data privacy and security, such as the Wired for Health Care Quality Act, are finding bipartisan support and may become law in the near future. What will that mean for the patient information responsibilities that accompany EMRs, EHRs and PHRs?

The bottom line for healthcare organizations and others is that they face new and hidden risks as healthcare moves toward electronic recordkeeping.

To help health data decision makers take steps to protect themselves and their organizations, Health Information Privacy/Security Alert sponsored:

Strategic Planning for Managing EMRs, EHRs and PHRs

This 90-minute audio seminar explains the differences among EHRs, EMRs and PHRs and the hidden regulatory traps that lurk in those differences.

Participants are briefed on:

• Key issues to resolve to manage patient information that come from different types of systems, subject to different legal obligations and standards;
• How new federal judicial regulations affect the maintenance of patient information and liability of healthcare organizations in law suits and legal defenses;
• Where data integrity and health data security responsibilities must be coordinated;
• Where to modify your Business Associate and other contracts to ensure the confidentiality and integrity of patient information;
• Crucial questions to ask of any electronic records vendor before buying a system; and
• How the evolving world of electronic health records may incur broader responsibilities for HIPAA privacy and security officers.

Who Should Listen

The Faculty

John R. Christiansen, J.D., Managing Director of Christiansen IT Law, is past Co-Chair of the American Bar Association's Committees on Healthcare Privacy, Security and Information Technology and Healthcare Informatics, and member of the Technical Advisory Panel for the Health Information Security and Privacy Collaboration. He works extensively with purchasers, users and vendors of healthcare information systems across a wide range of technologies and business relationships.

Dennis Melamed, editor and publisher of Health Information Privacy/Security Alert, has written and spoken widely on issues related to the privacy, confidentiality and security and health information. He is also an adjunct professor at the Drexel College of Medicine, where he lectures on regulatory issues affecting biomedical product manufacturers.

Continuing Education Credits

• All seminar participants will receive a certificate of participation
• 1.5 IAPP Credits

CD Ordering

The CD recording with all course materials are excellent educational and briefing resources: $275

Download the form at http://www.melamedia.com/06_26_order.form.pdf and fax it to 703.619.4912