CHIDS Helps Improve Children’s Healthcare Solution Design
The Center for Health Information and Decision Systems (CHIDS) at the
University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business has helped create a
new resource to improve the quality and safety of healthcare for children.
Funded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Agency for
Healthcare Research and the Quality and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services, the new electronic health record (EHR) format for children includes a
set of requirements and data standards that can be used as a blueprint for EHR
developers seeking to create a product that meets the needs of those who provide
healthcare to children.
The functional requirements include detailed descriptions of data elements,
functions and specifications, such as for vaccines and medication management,
required of an EHR system to support recording, processing, decision support,
and reporting upon pediatric patient encounters. It is expected that EHR vendors
will include these features in their system in order to be better equipped to
take care of children.
As a subcontractor to Rockville-based research firm Westat, the CHIDS team
helped develop several topic areas, participated in prototyping of the format
and analyzed format conformance issues.
"The EHR market has developed products largely targeted at adults, with
limited attention to the unique needs of children,” said Dr. Ritu Agarwal, CHIDS
director and professor of information systems at the Smith School. “The model
format is an important step in serving this critical set of patients.”
“The goal is to disseminate the model format broadly so that it will be
adopted by EHR vendors and easily integrated into their products. Pediatricians
and other child health stakeholders can use the model format to advocate for
improved pediatric specific functionality within their EHR systems.”
A
recent DHHS announcement provides more details.
About CHIDS
CHIDS is an academic research center in the Robert H. Smith School of Business.
It works in collaboration with industry and federal, state, and local government
affiliates, and is designed to research, analyze, and recommend solutions to
challenges surrounding the introduction and integration of information and
decision technologies into the healthcare system. The research at CHIDS seeks to
understand how digital technologies can be more effectively deployed to address
outcomes such as patient safety, healthcare quality, efficiency in healthcare
delivery, and a reduction in health disparities. CHIDS offers the benefit of a
world-class research staff and renowned scholars in the economic, social,
behavioral, and managerial aspects of technology implementation, adoption,
assimilation, and return on investment. CHIDS serves as a focal point for
thought leadership around the topic of health information and decision systems.
About the University of Maryland's Robert H. Smith School of Business
The Robert H. Smith School of Business is an internationally recognized leader
in management education and research. One of 12 colleges and schools at the
University of Maryland, College Park, the Smith School offers undergraduate,
full-time and part-time MBA, executive MBA, MS in business, PhD and executive
education programs, as well as outreach services to the corporate community. The
school offers its degree, custom and certification programs in learning
locations in North America and Asia.
