Alliance for Nursing Informatics Shares Insights on Standards

rninformatics, DNP, RN · Feb 25, 2009

Development

The ANI provided testimony on "Enhancing Standards Adoption by Users"

CHICAGO (Feb. 24, 2009) - Representing more than 5,000 nurses from 26

U.S. nursing informatics organizations that are members of the Alliance

for Nursing Informatics, Rosemary Kennedy, MBA, RN, FAAN, testified

today during a hearing held by the National Committee on Vital and

Health Statistics (NCVHS). Ms. Kennedy is the Chief Nursing Informatics

Officer for Siemens Healthcare, ANI Steering Committee member, and a

member of the Delaware Valley Nursing Computer Network. Representatives

from the American Association of Family Physicians, American Clinical

Laboratory Association and the American Hospital Association joined Ms.

Kennedy as part of Panel 3 - Enhancing Standards Adoption by Users.=20

During her presentation, this nursing leader discussed standards

development and implementation from a nursing perspective by

highlighting four topic areas:

* Background on the Alliance for Nursing Informatics

* Recent healthcare IT standards development, selection, and/or

implementation achievements and enabling processes

* Remaining challenges related to healthcare IT standards,

development, selection, and/or implementation

* Future model for healthcare IT standards development,

adoption, and implementation and necessary key players

Ms. Kennedy noted that nurse informaticists are engaged in all

levels of electronic health record standards development, testing and

integration, responsibilities that span all aspects of care delivery.

She illustrated how these nursing professionals now speak with a unified

voice through ANI, a collaboration of organizations, for example, that

provided the AHIC Successor with valuable background on the pivotal role

of nursing in healthcare. As a result, ANI nurse leaders were appointed

to the National eHealth Collaborative board and committees. Nurses also

serve on the National Health Information Network Governance Work Group.

"ANI provides an immediate link and communication channel to

nursing experts who can provide standards specification input and

subject matter expertise," explained Ms. Kennedy. Throughout her

presentation, she provided examples of nurses' involvement in other

organizations including:

* Health Level 7

* Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel

* Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise

* International Health Terminology Standards Development

Organization (IHTSDO)=20

* International Standards Organization Technical Committee 215

(ISO TC 215)

* SNOMED

"Nurses provide a strategic balance to these initiatives based on

their involvement in and perspective on patient care," said Joyce

Sensmeier, MS, RN-BC, CPHIMS, FHIMSS, Vice President, Informatics for

HIMSS. "Their contributions are a vital component of standards

development and implementation with these organizations and healthcare

settings throughout the United States."

As healthcare reform moves ahead with the passing of the American

Recovery and Reinstatement Act, standards for the secure exchange of

patient health information must be confirmed by the end of 2009,

according to the legislation. With that in mind, Ms. Kennedy offered

additional recommendations for including the integration of standards

within a broader framework for health information exchange that includes

decision support and workflow processes.

"Nurses are affecting change in the development and adoption of

interoperable systems across the nation, showing quantifiable impact on

national health," said Ms. Kennedy. "Combined collaboration between all

stakeholders is needed to develop, adopt, and integrate standards into

practice. The healthcare environment is ready to adopt standards and

they are seeking tools, methods, and success stories to move forward in

improving the health of the nation."

Visit the HIMSS Web site to view the presentation

.pdf> by Ms. Kennedy.

Learn more about the Alliance for Nursing Informatics

http://www.allianceni.org/ , which is sponsored by the American

Medical Informatics Association and the Healthcare Information and

Management Systems Society.

This is the first of several hearings held by the NCVHS to gather

information on how to improve the processes for developing, selecting,

and implementing health care informatics standards. Find out more

about the hearings.