NEW! Electronic Health Records: Selection Guidelines for Health Centers December 2008 version
In consultation with health center clinicians and Chief Medical Officers, the Selection guidelines have been fully reviewed and updated.
Highlights of the newly revised December 2008 version include:
- Enhanced vendor section with information on CCHIT certification
- Newly created sections on Children's Health and Pregnancy Care
- Enhanced Clinical Practice Guidelines specifying guidelines in areas covered by the Health Disparities Collaboratives
- Added detail in the reporting section including UDS reporting
Electronic Health Records: Selection Guidelines help health centers evaluate electronic health records (EHR) products and develop requests for proposals (RFP) or requests for information (RFI).
The downloadable Word document, written in RFI format, enables health centers to gather detailed information from EHR vendors about their products.
The Guidelines
- Borrow from the Health Level 7 (HL7) EHR functional model, the industry standard,
- Were developed in consultation with HIT staffers and clinicians from health centers, and
- Are tailored for health centers.
How to Use EHR Selection Guidelines
- Add to or subtract from the relatively comprehensive list of features in the Guidelines to make sure the EHR you select meets your needs.
- Gather detailed information from vendors as you consider EHR products.
- Specify EHR needs to vendors as part of an RFP. Products will meet the guidelines to varying degrees.
- Evaluate vendor proposals and products to make informed purchasing decisions.
- In addition, you should verify that products you are considering purchasing are also certified by the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT). The EHR Selection Guidelines address the specific needs of health centers and complement, but do not replace CCHIT certification.
Feedback
Do you have comments or questions about the guideline? Have you used them? Please let us know your experience by emailing us at healthit@hrsa.gov. The guidelines are a living document and will be updated periodically as the environment changes or at least annually.
