Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model^SM Update - 9/14/09

HIMSS Analytics has made a few minor modifications to the EMR Adoption Model (EMRAM).  These updates do not impact the status of any validated Stage 6 or Stage 7 hospitals.

The first is the addition of wording to Stage 2 relative to this stage being health information exchange (HIE) capable. At this stage diagnostic patient data is being accumulated in the clinical data repository (CDR), and this environment can provide external data exchanges with an HIE or other healthcare organizations. One does not have to be a Stage 7 hospital to participate with HIE environments.

The second change is verbiage in Stage 3 to clarify that nursing documentation is the main component of the clinical documentation that is being assessed at this stage.

The third addition is the requirement for the continuity of summary patient data between all hospital services (e.g. inpatient, outpatient, emergency department, and any owned or managed ambulatory clinics). The summary data has to be created in a format that is readily accessible by clinicians working in any of these environments who need to see the most recent data on the patient from any encounters of care.

If you have any questions on these EMRAM additions, please contact Patti Harris at patti.harris@himssanalytics.org or 312-638-9460.

If you are a healthcare provider and would like more information on how to obtain your hospital’s EMR score, e-mail us or call us at 866-546-2900.