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Federal Advisory Committees

Health IT Assessment Tools

APHL-CDC Informatics Self-Assessment for Laboratories
Measures overall informatics capabilities of a laboratory. Can be used for both public health and clinical laboratories.

API Laboratory Information System Assessment Toolkit
Developed by the Association for Pathology Informatics (API) to help laboratory leaders place value on LIS functionality to facilitate discussions with organizational executive leaders

NIST HL7 Validation Tools
Online certification test tools for EHRs based on ONC requirements and associated HL7 Implementation Guides. Current tools include:

  • Laboratory Orders Interface (LOI)
  • Laboratory Results Interface (LRI)
  • electronic Directory of Service (eDOS) (Order test menus in EHR for ambulatory providers)
  • Electronic Laboratory Reporting (ELR) (Reporting to state public health agencies)
  • Clinical Document Architecture (CDA) Guideline Validation (HL7 v3 exchange model for clinical documents)

ONC SAFER Guides for EHR Assessment
The following four SAFER Guides are specifically noted for review of laboratory data; however elements in all SAFER Guides may have relevance to laboratory testing:

  • Test Results Reporting and Follow-up
  • Computerized Provider Order Entry with Clinical Decision Support
  • Patient Identification (relates to blood product administration, laboratory test ordering, and laboratory results retrieval and display)
  • High Priority Practices (relates to order sets, order status, use of SNOMED and LOINC, interface testing, and decision support recommending or relying on laboratory tests)

ONC Security Risk Assessment
Tools to help you conduct a security risk assessment, based on the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Security Rule. A risk assessment helps your organization ensure it is compliant with HIPAA’s administrative, physical, and technical safeguards. A risk assessment also helps reveal areas where your organization’s protected health information (PHI) could be at risk. Developed by ONC, in collaboration with the HHS Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and the HHS Office of the General Counsel (OGC).

Health IT Standards

Format Standards

Vocabulary Standards

  • LOINC® (Logical Observation Identifiers Names and Codes)
    • LOINC® Mapping tool (free): Regenstrief LOINC Mapping Assistant (RELMA) Comprehensive LOINC® mapping resource. Users should consider using a tiered implementation approach. Focus initially on top 80-90% of tests by volume for the laboratory, particularly those with numerical or positive/negative results. These results are the target of CMS incentive payments for EHR adopters. Also give priority to tests for notifiable conditions to public health, which are also targeted. (See the Laboratory Interoperability Collaborative for public health reporting resources below.)
  • Top 300 Laboratory Order code set
    Alternative to using the comprehensive mapping tool. Developed for the ordering side, these are top-tier codes and may be less specific than what the laboratory may select when using the robust mapping tool. However, the list is a consensus-based starter set that covers up to 95% of the reported test volume for most laboratories.

Implementation Support

  • Laboratory Interoperability Collaborative (LIC)
    Online resource initially developed through a CDC grant, to help connect clinical laboratories to public health laboratories for electronic laboratory reporting of notifiable conditions (aka “ELR”). The resources are helpful in understanding and implementing interoperable vocabulary standards.

Implementation Support for Rural Health Setting

  • Rural Assistance Center’s Health Information Technology Toolkit
    The Rural Assistance Center (RAC) was established in December 2002 as a rural health and human services “information portal.” RAC helps rural communities and other rural stakeholders access the full range of available programs, funding, and research that can enable them to provide quality health and human services to rural residents. Originally created under by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Rural Initiative.
  • FCC Broadband Connectivity Resources
    Summary of various Federal Communications Commission programs to support access to telecommunications, broadband and internet services in rural settings.
  • USDA Health IT Capital Resources
    Links to a variety of funding opportunities from the US Department of Agriculture intended to develop the IT infrastructure for rural and agricultural communities.
  • National Rural Health Resource Center
    Nonprofit organization providing a full range of services to support health IT for rural health populations. Originally developed through grants from HRSA’s Office of Rural Health Policy.

News Sources

Participate

ONC Federal Advisory Committees and Workgroups
Submit an application for future consideration on a national committee or workgroup.

  • Standards & Interoperability Framework (S&I)
    Join a voluntary IT standards setting workgroup. Organized by the ONC, the S&I Framework is an active online community of volunteers developing Health IT standards (HL7 Implementation Guides), such as those that support the Laboratory Order Interface (LOI), Laboratory Results Interface (LRI), and electronic Directory of Service (eDOS). Collaboration occurs online by joining the S&I Wiki
  • Measure Applications Partnership
    Provide feedback on proposed healthcare measures to the National Quality forum.
  • Regulations.gov
    The official government portal to submit comments for proposed regulations.

Publications

EHR Related Acronyms from Fall 2011 Clinical Laboratory Improvement Advisory Committee meeting

Regulations

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