Mar 26 2010
The proven ability of the medical transcription sector to deliver
innovative, physician-friendly, and cost-effective solutions to the
challenges of electronic health record (EHR) adoption will be the
message taken to Capitol Hill by members of the Association for
Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI) and the Medical Transcription
Industry Association (MTIA) for the organizations’ fifth-annual Advocacy
Summit on March 24 in Washington, DC. The HITECH and subsequent
proposed regulations concerning “meaningful use” of certified EHR
systems have prompted the medical transcription sector to educate
legislators on the importance of securing continued access by physicians
to the dictation-transcription process. This long-proven method for
documenting care (a) frees up physician time from cumbersome EHR capture
systems and allow them to focus on patient care, (b) promotes
information-rich narrative reports for clinical and reimbursement
decision support, (c) and facilitates the risk-management role of the
medical transcriptionist, whose extra “set of eyes” on the health record
ensures accurate, complete capture of patient care encounters patient
records for patient safety and coordination of care.
AHDI and MTIA members will call for their Representatives and Senators
to encourage the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and the Office
of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology to
explicitly acknowledge in the regulations they are drafting that the
dictation-transcription process is a viable means by which to achieve
“meaningful use” and that certified EHR systems should be able to
receive structured narrative reports from the dictation-transcription
process.
“Meaningful EHR adoption must be practical,” states Peter Preziosi, PhD,
CAE, AHDI/MTIA chief executive officer. “The dictation-transcription
process is still the preferred method physicians use to document care
encounters. Narrative notes are easier to read and understand among
clinicians and patients. Ease of information capture and recordkeeping
will accelerate EHR adoption and will enable a smoother transition to
EHR systems – a win-win for physicians and their patients.”
In support of their central message, AHDI and MTIA members will provide
legislators with information on innovative consortium projects AHDI and
MTIA support to expedite health information exchange adoption – Verizon
Medical Data Exchange and Health
Story Project. The Medical Data Exchange provides a means to
accelerate the sharing of a wide range of digital health information
between physicians and health care organizations. Health Story Project
is creating document format standards, utilizing a consistent
computer-readable structure, for clinical records commonly used in
healthcare facilities to improve the flow of information between patient
narratives and EHR systems.
Source Association
for Healthcare Documentation Integrity (AHDI)