BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT and HIMSS have signed a memorandum of understanding that will see them collaborating on a project to introduce HIMSS Analytics Electronic Medical Records Adoption Model (EMRAM)SM to the UK. The announcement was made today by Matthew Swindells, Chair of BCS Health, during the opening plenary at HC2012, the annual health informatics conference run by the Institute.
Matthew Swindells, Chair of BCS Health explains: “We’re delighted to be working with HIMSS Analytics Europe on this project. We believe information and technology are crucial to the challenge of transforming our healthcare service. The HIMSS Analytics EMRAM model will enable hospitals to measure their progress in the implementation of health IT and benchmark themselves against the rest of the NHS and internationally. This is particularly important as the NHS moves from the top down direction of NHS Connecting for Health to local decision making. As the Chartered Institute for IT, we believe that through the expertise of our members and partnerships such as this one, we can help support and enable the NHS to deal with the challenges and changes that it is experiencing as it embraces information technology.”
BCS will work with HIMSS Analytics Europe and a number of leading organisations to test the EMRAM model for suitability in the UK and assist with any modifications that are required. A number of hospitals, covering the acute and mental health sectors are being recruited to assist. BCS Health and HIMSS Analytics Europe are establishing a steering committee to ensure the smooth running of the project. It consists of key health informatics and healthcare professionals including: Luke Readman, CIO at Wirral University Teaching Hospital FT, Peter Dyke from the Department of Health, Jon Lindberg from Intellect, Professor Iain Carpenter from the Royal College of Physicians and Kathy Mason.
Mr Readman said, “I am pleased to support BCS and HIMSS Analytics in their efforts to bring EMRAM into the UK. As the CIO for a hospital that has made great efforts to digitise healthcare over many years, I look forward to the opportunity to measure our progress against an external benchmark and am confident that this will inspire us to try even harder to be one of the best in Europe.”
H. Stephen Lieber, President and CEO, HIMSS adds: “The EMR Adoption Model and its underlying database provide healthcare organisations, governments, and other decision makers with critical information about the adoption and use of information technology. Globally, we find a significant correlation between stages of IT adoption and improvement in patient care metrics; through this project we will bring new knowledge to the table in support of continuous patient care improvement in the UK.”
Currently, HIMSS Analytics collects data from hospitals and other healthcare delivery organisations 25 countries worldwide. EMRAM is an eight stage model (Stages 0 to 7) which classifies an institution’s level of IT adoption. Thus far, 68 Stage 7 hospitals have been identified globally. A Stage 7 is a full digitised, virtually paperless environment with a broad range of interoperability and data exchange capabilities with other organisations.
About BCS
Our mission as BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, is to enable the information society. We promote wider social and economic progress through the advancement of information technology science and practice. We bring together industry, academics, practitioners and government to share knowledge, promote new thinking, inform the design of new curricula, shape public policy and inform the public.
Our vision is to be a world-class organisation for IT. Our 70,000 strong membership includes practitioners, businesses, academics and students in the UK and internationally. We deliver a range of professional development tools for practitioners and employees. A leading IT qualification body, we offer a range of widely recognised qualifications.
About HIMSS
HIMSS is a cause-based, not-for-profit organization exclusively focused on providing global leadership for the optimal use of information technology (IT) and management systems for the betterment of healthcare. Founded 51 years ago, HIMSS and its related organizations are headquartered in Chicago, USA with additional offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. HIMSS represents more than 44,000 individual members, of which more than two thirds work in healthcare provider, governmental and not-for-profit organizations. HIMSS also includes over 570 corporate members and more than 170 not-for-profit organizations that share our mission of transforming healthcare through the effective use of information technology and management systems. HIMSS frames and leads healthcare practices and public policy through its content expertise, professional development, research initiatives, and media vehicles designed to promote information and management systems’ contributions to improving the quality, safety, access, and cost-effectiveness of patient care.
About HIMSS Analytics
HIMSS Analytics is a wholly owned not-for-profit subsidiary of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). The company collects and analyzes healthcare information related to IT processes and environments, products, IS department composition and costs, IS department management metrics, healthcare trends and purchase-related decisions. HIMSS Analytics delivers high quality products, services and analytical expertise to healthcare delivery organizations, healthcare IT companies, state governments, financial companies, pharmaceutical companies, and consulting firms.
