The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology have released an electronic health record support tool and EHR contracting guide to help clinicians assess their respective organizations’ requirements.National Health IT Coordinator Vindell Washington and acting CMS Director and Andy Slavitt wrote in a post published Monday the two organizations worked together to release both the Health IT Playbook and EHR Contracts Untangled: Selecting Wisely, Negotiating Terms and Understanding the Fine Print.
CMS and ONC wrote the contracting guide to help clinicians and hospitals make decisions with regards to contract terms and help information flow across practices and to and from patient, as well as address data blocking and other health IT adoption challenges.
Topic areas of the EHR contracting guide include steps to understand and communicate requirements to potential vendors, contracting practices and negotiation strategies, legal rights and obligations, practical pointers and example contract terms.
