Where We Stand
Section: Health Care Delivery
Policy: Electronic Health Records and Health Information Exchange

Appendix D

Regarding Electronic Medical Record Adoption:

  1. Support legislation that provides incentives for adoption and implementation of Health Information Technology (HIT).
  2. Support policies, education and applicable regulations that mitigate the disruption to practice inherent in major changes of this kind.
  3. Support requirements on vendors to ensure interoperability, as it is essential to allow movement of data through secure HIE structures.
  4. Support Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems that allow appropriate participation by all team members in use of the EHR in the course of care of the patient, including for example, Computerized Physician Order Entry, documentation, etc.
  5. Support use of decision support modules contained in EHR that increase patient safety and decrease errors of omission at the point of care.
  6. OMA will, where possible, provide its members with resources to help them in vendor selection for HIT projects, with the emphasis on sources that will help them improve quality, ensure interoperability with existing clinical systems, and enhance efficiency and viability of their practices.
  7. OMA will also work with knowledgeable vendor neutral sources to create educational programming and information sources that will prepare physicians and practice staff for the financial benefits and risks associated with adoption of HIT.
  8. OMA will provide its members with up to date information about the development and implementation of HIT policy changes at the state and national levels.
  9. OMA will advocate with policymakers to present as full a picture as possible of the impacts these changes will have on individual physicians.

Regarding Health Information Exchange:

  1. Patient safety, privacy and quality of care are the guiding principles of all Health Information Exchange (HIE) efforts; cost reduction and efficiency are expected byproducts but not the primary aim.
  2. Patient privacy protections that traditionally exist in the patient-physician relationship continue to apply where health information technology is utilized.
  3. The OMA supports a system in which a patient is given the opportunity to opt-out of participation in health information exchange; if the patient does not opt-out, their information will be accessible to the health information exchange (with the exception of specially protected records as defined by state and federal law).
  4. Open standards for the interoperable electronic transmission of clinical data should be compatible with national and regional standards.
  5. The OMA supports a model for creating a Health Information Exchange entity that draws its financial sustainability from a reasonable fee, scaled to user size and type, which incorporates shared support from all those who benefit from it; said fees must only be collected for ongoing maintenance of the exchange, rather than start-up costs.