CDC Warns Hospitals to Improve EMR System The Centers for Disease Control does not routinely tell hospitals how to run their operations, but with increasing reports of EHR deployment problems, it now sees the need to act Written by: Ste phan i e C. Ocano
using EHR systems has significantly increased over the last decade, there is concern that EHR system-related patient safety events may also be on the rise. Recently, reports of deployment issues have come to the attention of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). “Some hospital laboratories have legacy information systems that
do not even have the ability to use current coding,” Megan Sawchuk, lead health scientist for CDC’s office of public health scientific services, told Healthcare IT News. Outdated software is only one of the problems that the CDC notes. There are also issues involving staff time and expertise. The fact that different medical facilities use different codes 9