Are You Using the Right Electronic Health Record?

With the enactment of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act in 2009, hospitals and physician practices across the country converted from a system of paper recordkeeping to fully integrated electronic health records (EHR).1, 2 With financial incentives in hand, there was a rush to market to acquire and implement these systems. Fast-forward 10 years, and it is apparent that the EHR space has significantly evolved in technology, processes, and policies.3 These changes should make organizations examine their EHR and organizational models and consider if they are using the best EHR to meet their organizational needs for the next 20 years. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Center (CC) implemented its EHR in 2004 and, recognizing all of the new participants, technologies, and the advancement of clinical research needs since then, made the decision to embark on a comprehensive business case analysis to evaluate the best solution to meet the CC's and NIH's needs over the next 20 years. The goal was to answer this question: "Given the evolution of the EHR market, is the CC on the best platform to meet its needs now and in the future?"

THE EVOLUTION OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY GOVERNANCE AT THE NIH CLINICAL CENTER.

An information technology governance (ITG) program has helped the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Clinical Center (CC) in the implementation of many systems and has guided the organization through the maturity of its project management methodology. The NIHCC Department of Clinical Research Informatics (DCRI) maintains an electronic health record (EHR) called the clinical research information system (CRIS) along with many clinical information systems (CIS) and research information systems, supporting approximately 3,200 users. ITG involves establishing processes to guide the review, selection, implementation, management, and setting of the IT strategy representing the business owners, stakeholders, and IT.1 Research conducted by Levstek, Hovelja, and Pucihar2 identified that different organizations may need different ITG structures, frameworks, and strategies. The path to achieving strong ITG is a continuous journey. This paper reviews the evolution of the NIHCC IT governance strategy.

Unveiling the silent threat among us: leveraging health information technology in the search for asymptomatic COVID 19 healthcare workers.

Assuring the safety of both patients and healthcare workers (HCWs) in hospitals has been the primary focus of every healthcare organization during the COVID 19 pandemic. This article discusses the NIH Clinical Center's interdisciplinary approach to deploying an organizational Asymptomatic Staff Testing System.