The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) released today a detailed guide intended to support healthcare CIOs in the implementation of electronic health records to meet the meaningful use requirements issued by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services.
The publication, entitled “The CIO’s Guide to Implementing EHRs in the HITECH Era”, tackles the important steps healthcare organizations must take in successfully implementing electronic health records, from the initial planning through the final documentation of results.
Based on research involving nearly 170 CHIME members who provided information on real-world experiences of planning for and implementing electronic health records in their organizations, this guide provides new direction on the best practices for successful EHR adoption.
CHIME’s initiative for the guidebook is an extension of a collaborative effort involving the American Hospital Association (AHA) earlier this year. CHIME and the AHA worked together to produce the Healthcare Leader Action Guide on Implementing Electronic Health Records which was unveiled at this summer’s AHA and Health Forum’s Annual Leadership Summit. The CHIME-AHA joint publication provides important information for CEOs and other senior executives in hospitals.
Now CHIME has produced its companion, a CIO-oriented publication providing additional details on how organizations should focus their efforts to implement EHR systems that will qualify for stimulus funding payments through the HITECH Act.
The 80-page guidebook is available free to the public and can be downloaded here:http://www.cio-chime.org/advocacy/CIOsGuideBook/CIO_Guide_Final.pdf.
“As the nation’s leading professional organization for healthcare IT executives, we felt it was important to gather the collective wisdom of our members and produce a guide that could help the nation’s providers through the next few years,” said CHIME Board President Timothy Stettheimer, Ph.D., FCHIME, CHCIO.
The guide is CHIME’s latest effort to shape the future of healthcare through IT leadership, which the organization is doing by assisting CIOs and senior healthcare IT leaders through education, collaboration and advocacy.
“The guide provides just a sample of the experience that CHIME’s members have in implementing these complex systems,” Stettheimer added. “CHIME offers a variety of professional and educational support to its members, which is crucial to IT executives embarking on the EHR journey.”
On Wednesday, August 25 at 1 p.m. EST, CHIME will conduct a public webinar, highlighting some of the principal building blocks of a successful EHR implementation shared within the guide and how organizations can use it to support their IT efforts to achieve meaningful use. The webinar will feature insights from guidebook author Fred Bazzoli, CHIME Director of Communications, and contributor Edward Marx, CIO of Texas Health Resources, who will be on hand to discuss key premises and answer questions. To register now, click here.
About CHIME
The College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME) is an executive organization dedicated to serving chief information officers and other senior healthcare IT leaders. With more than 1,400 CIO members and over 70 healthcare IT vendors and professional services firms, CHIME provides a highly interactive, trusted environment enabling senior professional and industry leaders to collaborate; exchange best practices; address professional development needs; and advocate the effective use of information management to improve the health and healthcare in the communities they serve. For more information, please visit www.cio-chime.org.
