joshpearce wrote on Thursday, February 04, 2010:
I haven’t seen much discussion on Action Item #21, Exchanging Clinical Data.
I want to write code to integrate with Google Health and since they use CCR, it seems that if I did it well it could be used to tackle this action item. Google Health uses CCR. Could CCR and a standard set of forms be used as a starting point for this task?
Any thoughts?
tmccormi wrote on Friday, February 05, 2010:
Doesn’t Google support the newer CCD format?
joshpearce wrote on Friday, February 05, 2010:
Seems to be CCR
Below is a description from their reference
Google Health uses a subset of the CCR (Continuity of Care Record) to transport health data. The companion to this document defines the subset of the CCR (Continuity of Care Record), an XML standard for health data exchange, along with the Google Data API protocol to transport medical records.
anonymous wrote on Friday, February 05, 2010:
Hi Josh,
You are most welcome to contribute to OpenEMR community. However, Google Health is not a good solution here because it’s a personal health record. You can use it to share information between OpenEMR and its patients but not between providers (who also use different EHR systems that don’t connect to Google Health).
Here’s the MU requirement:
Capability to exchange key clinical information among providers of care and patient authorized entities electronically.
Each state has their own HIE standard. OpenEMR will need to work with these standards in order to connect to the state-approved HIE networks. John Williams is actually the owner of this MU, and he has put some specs together for New Jersey.
I think Google Health is good for the other two MUs (Patient Electronic Copy of Health Information and Patient Electronic Access to Health Information). This needs more discussion. Rod is already concerned about Google Health API agreement, which limits code distribution. We are not ready to work on it yet. Maybe you can study the codes and find out the best way to do the API integration. Then share your findings here.
joshpearce wrote on Friday, February 05, 2010:
Thomas,
Thank you for the information. I wasn’t actually proposing that Google Health be used to exchange data between clinics, but rather that any work toward import/export of OpenEMR data in CCR might be beneficial, if CCR could be used for clinical data exchange.
I wasn’t aware that each state is to have their own exchange. Here in NC, I see that CCD will likely be used.
As for studying the codes, since I’m so new to OpenEMR, is it safe to assume that API integration will need to make use of the OpenEMR forms API? And if so, it seems that would require an arbitrary mapping to individual form table data, correct?
anonymous wrote on Tuesday, February 09, 2010:
Hi Josh,
Maybe not every state will have their own HIE network. My assumption is based on the few states (California, New York, Ohio, etc.) that I know.
As for what data to use, please take a look at Patient Clinical Summaries: http://www.openmedsoftware.org/wiki/Patient_Clinical_Summaries.
anonymous wrote on Tuesday, February 16, 2010:
Hi Josh,
Here’s something for your state:
Current state of HIE and recently announced NC Regional Extension Center funding update.
This Wednesday (2/17/2010) at 12:15 Carolinas IT in conjunction with the Carolinas Center for Medical Excellence (CCME) will be hosting a 30 minute no cost webinar addressing the current state of Health Information Exchange (HIE) and $26.5M in stimulus funding awarded to the North Carolina Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) to provide training and support for primary care providers using electronic health records announced by Health and Human Services Secretary, Kathleen Sebelius this past Friday 2/12/10.
Speaker: Holt Anderson, Executive Director with North Carolina Healthcare Information and Communications Alliance (NCHICA)
Register:
https://carolinasitevents.webex.com/carolinasitevents/onstage/g.php?p=1&t=m
or WWW.CAROLINASIT.COM and follow the registration link.