News Brief: Alliance to develop health technology standards

News Brief: Alliance to develop health technology standards

Groups representing health care providers, information technology vendors, and national health and technology associations announced in June the creation of the National Alliance for Health Information Technology, a coalition to develop voluntary standards for health information technology (IT). Founding members of the alliance include the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists in Bethesda, MD, and the American Hospital Association in Chicago.

The alliance’s first project is applying bar coding to medication and biological product packaging. The alliance plans to work with the Food and Drug Administration to be a part of its bar coding regulatory process. Other areas of focus could include automated medication administration, electronic medical records, and improving communication and transaction networks among physician offices, hospitals, payers, and throughout the supply chain.

The alliance says it believes that creating voluntary IT standards will enhance patient safety and increase hospital and health care operating efficiencies by allowing computer systems to communicate both within a health organization and across organizations and locations and making patient-centered data accessible, efficiently linking clinical, administrative, and financial data.

For more information about the alliance, visit the web site at www.nahit.org.