Re: Strategy on Reducing Regulatory and Administrative Burden Relating to the Use of
Health IT and EHRs, Draft for Public Comment
Dear Dr. Rucker:
The undersigned members of the Physician Clinical Registry Coalition (the Coalition) appreciate
the opportunity to comment on the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information
Technology’s (ONC’s) draft Strategy on Reducing Regulatory and Administrative Burden
Relating to the Use of Health IT and EHRs. The Coalition is a group of medical society sponsored clinical data registries that collect and analyze clinical outcomes data to identify best practices and improve patient care. We are committed to advocating for policies that encourage
and enable the development of clinical data registries and enhance their ability to improve
quality of care through the analysis and reporting of clinical outcomes. Most of the members of
the Coalition have been approved as qualified clinical data registries (QCDRs) or are working
towards achieving QCDR status.
The Coalition greatly appreciates ONC’s attention to reducing regulatory and administrative
burden relating to the use of health information technology (Health IT) and electronic health
records (EHRs). The Coalition is concerned, however, that ONC’s draft strategy fails to
acknowledge the value of clinical data registries, particularly the important role that QCDRs and
other clinical data registries play in enhancing quality improvement activities and reducing
administrative burden for clinicians. For the reasons discussed in this letter and as discussed
during the Coalition’s in-person meeting with ONC last April, the Coalition strongly urges ONC
to address the burden associated with the lack of interoperability between EHRs and clinical data
registries in its burden reduction strategy.
…
Read full letter here
