As part of its ongoing effort to support oncology practices in adopting Electronic Health Records (EHR) to improve their quality of care, ASCO is holding its sixth annual EHR Vendor Lab, from June 2-4 at the 2012 ASCO Annual Meeting in Chicago. This resource gives attendees the opportunity to test drive different systems that meet ASCO-defined criteria and experience the latest health information technology.
Eight electronic health record companies have met ASCO’s participation criteria, which include the ability to perform clinical decision support, chemotherapy ordering, and care coordination. The demonstrations are organized around a patient scenario encapsulating most situations that oncology providers will encounter with their electronic health record.
Companies that have met ASCO’s defined criteria and are participating in the 2012 Lab are:
- Altos Solutions, Inc: OncoEMR™
- Cardinal Health: Smart Oncology Office
- Elekta: MOSAIQ®
- GeniusDoc Oncology EHR/PM
- MDLand International Corporation: iClinic®
- McKesson Specialty Health: iKnowMed
- MedSym: MedSymEHR & MedSymPM
- Varian Medical Systems: ARIA®oncology information system
“The use of [electronic health records] in oncology has the ability to revolutionize the way that doctors treat patients with cancer,” said Peter Paul Yu, MD, Chair of ASCO’s Health IT Work Group. “ASCO has identified electronic health records as an important vehicle for advancing quality care and recognizes that the software’s success depends on whether they meet the needs of the practices that will be using them on a daily basis.”
ASCO has also developed resources for practices that have or are seeking to adopt electronic health records. These include information to assist with selection and installation of electronic health records and guides for understanding government incentive programs. In addition, ASCO has worked to set technical standards for electronic health records and actively comments on proposed government regulations. ■
