“We applaud the Senate HELP Committee for their
ongoing attention to health information technology (HIT) policy issues that are
vital to patient care. Advances in HIT, including data interoperability and
electronic health records (EHR), are driving a revolution in patient care and
health outcomes. For
healthcare providers to administer first-class patient care – and for patients
to effectively engage in their own care – they must have access to vital
patient and device data that are currently “locked” in system silos across the
healthcare supply chain.
“Comprehensive
EHRs with data that are accessible and interoperable across systems – and
operating under appropriate privacy safeguards – will allow providers and
patients to see a complete patient health picture and have access to all
applicable information when making critical care decisions. As Congress
continues to examine key HIT policy issues, we encourage them to support the development of
interoperability standards that require open source codes in order to enable
the secure exchange of important patient information among health care systems.”
To learn more about HSCA and its GPO members, click here.