“…Using the Right Tools
EHRs are increasingly being used as the data sources for building and training algorithms, the development platforms for creating algorithms, and the user applications for incorporating algorithms in clinical decision-making. All algorithms have bias, and as use of such tools proliferates, it will be critical to ensure that users have awareness of what types of biases may exist to better inform applicability in their particular circumstances. ONC health IT certification already includes certain requirements for clinical decision support functions, such as identification of diagnostic and therapeutic reference information, and availability to the user of “source attributes” such as the developer of the intervention, where clinically indicated, bibliographic citations, and funding sources of the developer of the intervention. ONC is examining various approaches to ensure that users have the ability to know how to apply algorithms in the right way, at the right time, and in the right situations.”
“Interoperability can also play a large role in addressing health equity issues. A recent ONC award to UT Austin will help refine the use of standards to support safe, coordinated transitions of care and referrals among community-based organizations and health care providers. The project is closely aligned with the framework developed by the HL7 Gravity Project to identify coded data elements and associated value sets representing each patient’s social determinants of health in health IT systems. ONC will also leverage findings from past and current work done by the 360X project to enable providers to exchange data for patients transferred between facilities, particularly from hospitals to residential care facilities, regardless of the EHR system each organization is using…” Read the full article here.
Source: Embracing Health Equity by Design – By Ryan Argentieri, Thomas A. Mason, Jordan Hefcart and Jawanna Henry, February 22, 2022. ONC Health IT Buzz.
