AHIMA Responds to the OIG’s Comments on EHR Security

 

“The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) welcomes the advice provided by the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the Inspector General calling for the Office of the National Coordinator to increase the security aspects of Meaningful Use in the form of standards requirements associated with electronic health records (EHR) and health information exchanges (HIE).

“Even though AHIMA believes the audit is not large enough to be reflective of the state of the nation’s health information security, advising ONC to increase security requirements is appropriate and warranted, especially where EHR certification is concerned.

“Health information management (HIM) professionals are committed to collaborating with peers and providing leadership with the implementation of electronic health records and health information exchanges. We too, therefore, are concerned with health information security. So much so, in fact, that we urge ONC and the Office of Civil Rights, with the assistance of the National Institute of Standards and Technology, to also address security education in the assistance offered to providers and states in the implementation of EHRs and HIEs.  In return, AHIMA will be working with the HIM professionals to ensure lessons learned from the OIGs reports are well understood and properly addressed.”

Source: American Health Information Management Association