Leveraging the electronic health record for research and quality improvement: Current strengths and future challenges

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle

Abstract

Passage of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act in 2009 resulted in the rapid adoption of electronic health record (EHR) systems. With this, came the promise of increased access to patient data for beneficial secondary uses such as research and quality improvement. However, clinicians and researchers interested in leveraging HIT for such purposes often find EHR data as heterogeneous and complex. As such, EHR clinical data often remain underutilized. Biomedical and Health Informaticians are developing systems and techniques to use the EHR for clinical knowledge discovery and dissemination. Applicable approaches may require biostatistical, programming, and other technical knowledge, as well as information technology data infrastructure often consisting of the institution's clinical data repository (CDR). Other techniques can also be instituted by practicing clinicians to leverage EHR systems including the use of clinical decision support (CDS) tools and standard knowledge representation for surgical applications.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)102-110
Number of pages9
JournalSeminars in Colon and Rectal Surgery
Volume27
Issue number2
DOIs
StatePublished - Jun 2016

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 Elsevier Inc.

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