The Chicago-based National Alliance for Health Information Technology (Alliance) released its final report, “Defining Key Health Information Technology Terms,” defining six important HIT terms.
The definitions, which will be presented to the Washington-based American Health Information Community (AHIC) on June 3 for final approval, are:
· Electronic Medical Record
An electronic record of health-related information on an individual that can be created, gathered, managed, and consulted by authorized clinicians and staff within one health care organization.
· Electronic Health Record
An electronic record of health-related information on an individual that conforms to nationally recognized interoperability standards and that can be created, managed, and consulted by authorized clinicians and staff across more than one health care organization.
· Personal Health Record
An electronic record of health-related information on an individual that conforms to nationally recognized interoperability standards and that can be drawn from multiple sources while being managed, shared, and controlled by the individual.
· Health Information Exchange Health Information Organization
The electronic movement of health-related information among organizations according to nationally recognized standards.
· Regional Health Information Organization
An organization that oversees and governs the exchange of health-related information among organizations according to nationally recognized standards. A health information organization that brings together health care stakeholders within a defined geographic area and governs health information exchange among them for the purpose of improving health and care in that community.
The full report from the Alliance includes the specific definitions and summarizes the deliberations and conclusions of the two work groups. A copy of the report can be found at www.nahit.org.
