iHealth Alliance, a nonprofit organization that represents the interests of healthcare providers and their malpractice insurance companies, launched a website to track safety issues related to the use and implementation of electronic health records.
Insurance companies and the Food & Drug Administration plan to use information collected on the system, called EHRevent, to develop educational literature regarding patient safety and EHRs.
Malpractice insurance companies, also known as professional liability carriers, are among the "strongest supporters" of the EHRevent system, according to iHealth Alliance.
“EHRs can play a major role in advancing the practice of good medicine, but there are often unanticipated consequences when new technologies are deployed and it is important to collect and disseminate EHR user experience as these powerful systems are adopted,” said Dr. David Troxel, the medical director at The Doctors Company, a malpractice coverage provider, in prepared remarks.
The reporting of adverse EHR events may result in liability reduction, according to the website for PDR Secure LLC, a patient safety organization and portal for the EHRevent system.
The Food & Drug Administration’s medical device arm, the Center for Devices and Radiological Health, is encouraging doctors and EHR vendors to report safety related events to systems like EHRevent.
