A new electronic health record (HER) format specifically designed for children's health, aims to reduce the risks of inaccuracies and omissions while easing the exchange of data with other organizations.
The format was announced in February 2013 by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). It aims to improve the quality and safety of healthcare in the US by addressing the fact that many pre-existing EHR systems were not tailored to capture or process health information about children.
The new EHR format for children's healthcare includes recommendations for child-specific data elements such as vaccines and functionality that will enable EHR developers to broaden their products to include modules tailored to children's health.
"Healthcare for children is a calling that carries special challenges," said AHRQ director Carolyn Clancy, MD.
"This new children's EHR format will help software developers meet the needs of healthcare providers for children by combining best practices in clinical care, information technology and the contributions of healthcare providers who treat children every day."
electronic health record, EHR, healthcare, children, risk management
