(HealthTech Wire / Interview) - HIMSS Analytics Europe is ranking hospitals across Europe based on their implementation of IT applications. Uwe Buddrus, Managing Director of HIMSS Analytics, talks about the EMR (Electronic Medical Record) Adoption Model for ranking Europe's hospitals based on the adoption and utilization of IT applications.
Why should a hospital agree to be surveyed by HIMSS Analytics?
The healthcare system is currently plagued by a shortage of personnel and financial resources. Therefore, transparency with regard to cost and quality of patient care becomes more and more important. In addition, computers support clinical processes to an ever higher degree. The goal is to continuously improve information logistics with a focus on a paperless clinical pathway. HIMSS Analytics Europe supports and promotes these activities. We generate benchmarks to compare the level of adoption of hospital IT systems. This is based on the Electronic Medical Record Adoption Model (EMRAM). This model supports clinical directors, IT officers and physicians in assessing the progress of IT adoption using eight stages (0 through 7) and comparing it to other institutions.
Participation in the study is free and requires only a small amount of work for the hospitals. After providing their data, participants receive access to our database with customizable benchmark reports and a national market overview. Hospitals benefit from data-driven decision support in the areas of IT investment focus, resource planning (IT budget, IT personnel) and IT provider selection. Based on the collected data, EMRAM allows us to identify best practice scenarios for all hospitals. For example, instead of only looking at well-known, leading healthcare facilities, a medium-sized facility providing general acute care can look at comparable facilities. The progress of leading hospitals with regard to IT implementation can be publicly recognized.
How do hospitals in different European countries fit into such a model, considering the various national regulatory frameworks?
EMRAM ranks hospitals based on their progress in creating a paperless patient record environment. This is based on a generic, incremental approach that can be generally applied to every healthcare system. National regulatory frameworks may result in certain applications, such as electronic drug prescription systems, being adopted sooner than others. However, this still means that the hospital is required to create the corresponding framework in its IT environment. For instance, computer-based clinical decision support depends on the medical records being complete, up-to-date, and available in electronic format.
What is the difference between the European and the US EMRAM model?
While the European EMRAM is based on the concept of the U.S. model, it has been specifically developed for European hospitals. The 8 stages and the type of scoring in the U.S models have been applied. However, important aspects of the model's content have been designed around the environments and developments in Europe.
HIMSS Analytics Europe was formed last summer. What has happened since and what can we expect?
Last year, we developed and extensively tested EMRAM in close cooperation with European CIOs. At the first European Health IT Leadership Summit organized by HIMSS in Rome in late September, the first three European hospitals were recognized with the "Stage 6 Award" for their progress in implementing IT applications.
We are currently working on ensuring multilingual data entry to begin continuous data collection in 13 European countries. In May, we will organize the Leaders in Health IT Symposium as part of eHealth Week in Budapest. In four sessions, high-ranking officials from different European hospitals as well as political institutions and organizations will provide key learnings for successful IT implementation.
When will the next results of the survey be published?
The next results will be published during eHealth Week in Budapest, Hungary, in May. However, we already have four more applicants for the Stage 6 Award. We are currently working on the first European validation for a Stage 7 hospital and hope to announce it in Budapest. Stage 7 hospitals provide best practices that other healthcare organizations can study and emulate as they strive to use EMR applications to improve patient safety, clinical outcomes and patient care delivery efficiency.
The accomplishments of Stage 7 hospitals serve as important indicators of high quality patient care with the interoperable electronic medical record in place.
Thank you for the interview, Mr. Buddrus. (HTW)
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