Groups Working Together to Develop Patient Continuity of Care
Record Standards

BOSTON, May 22, 2003 -- The ASTM International, Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS), and Massachusetts Medical Society have joined forces to establish a standard for the Continuity of Care Record (CCR), which will enable healthcare providers to base future care on relevant and timely patient information.

"We want to end the situation where doctors must either start from scratch or act blindly because they don't have the patient's relevant past history, allergies, or the details of medications" said Thomas Sullivan, MD, president of the Massachusetts Medical Society, the organization initiating the development of the CCR standards.

An ongoing record of care, the CCR should be created or updated at the end of every healthcare encounter and available for review by the next provider, no matter what and where the healthcare setting might be. As a result, that provider would use the CCR to guide the care process for the patient. The patient also may request a CCR printout to provide valid and current information for another healthcare provider.

HIMSS joins ASTM International and the Massachusetts Medical Society to further the consensus-building and promotion efforts for the standard. "This initiative with ASTM and the Massachusetts Medical Society is just one of the Society's strategies in place to achieve interoperability," said Pat Wise, HIMSS director of EHR Initiatives. "The Society is involved in this and other collaborative efforts within the industry to bring stakeholders together to realize the universal health record."

The new standard is being developed by the standards development organization ASTM Committee E31 on Health Informatics, which is chaired by Peter Waegemann, CEO of Medical Records Institute. He noted, "The goal of electronic health records can be achieved with the vision of a continuous care record that will reduce medical errors and costs and increase the quality of care."

Demographic information, allergies, a medication list, and summary of care provided, plus a short care plan with recommendations for the next step in patient care, are included in the CCR. "The CCR contains most of the relevant information that is necessary when a patient is seen by a healthcare provider," said Claudia Tessier, a consultant in healthcare documentation and co-chair of the CCR workgroup with Dr. Sullivan.

Before the ASTM subcommittee E31.28 ballots the standard, several consensus meetings will be held to incorporate input from medical and professional societies and other key stakeholders. The final standard should be confirmed before the end of 2003.