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American Academy of Family Physicians Seeks Partners to Support Open-Source Electronic Health Record Initiative

Initiative Will Enhance the Quality and Safety of Patient Care

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Wednesday, January 22, 2003

Contact:
Amanda Denning
American Academy of Family Physicians
(800) 274-2237, Ext. 5223
adenning@aafp.org

LEAWOOD, Kan. — The board of directors of the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP) announced today a business plan to create a not-for-profit foundation to develop and distribute an open-source electronic health record (EHR). The plan includes partnering with other medical associations who have expressed strong interest in helping establish and fund this foundation.

"Electronic health records need to be used in every physician’s office in the country, but currently available systems do not address the complex patient care provided in a family doctor’s office," says James C. Martin, M.D., president of the American Academy of Family Physicians. "We’re taking the first step to remedy that by establishing a not-for-profit foundation to support development of an EHR system designed by physicians for physicians."

An electronic health record system is essential in increasing the quality of health care and improving patient safety. An EHR should contain detailed clinical notes; prescription ordering and management capability; a secure messaging system; lab and test results reporting; evidence-based health guidelines; secure and confidential patient access to health records; public health reporting and tracking system; mapping to clinical and administrative standard code sets; and the ability to interface with leading practice management software. The open-source EHR will be designed to run on PCs, Macintosh, Linux, UNIX, Palm and PocketPC hand-held devices.

"Our ultimate goal is to provide an EHR that is low-cost; has a set of simple, uniform end-user interfaces; and will support a seamless, secure exchange of clinical data between health care providers, organizations, institutions and patients. The time has come to move from theory to action on this," says David C. Kibbe, M.D., director of health information technology at the AAFP.

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Founded in 1947, the AAFP represents more than 93,000 physicians and medical students nationwide. It is the only medical society devoted solely to primary care.

Nearly one in four of all office visits are made to family physicians. That is 215 million office visits each year – nearly 48 million more than the next medical specialty. Today, family physicians provide the majority of care for America’s underserved and rural populations.

In the increasingly fragmented world of health care where many medical specialties limit their practice to a particular organ, disease, age or sex, family physicians are dedicated to treating the whole person across the full spectrum of ages. Family medicine’s cornerstone is an ongoing, personal patient-physician relationship focused on integrated care.

To learn more about the American Academy of Family Physicians and about the specialty of family medicine, please visit www.aafp.org.

For more information about the AAFP's positions on issues and clinical care and downloadable multi-media on family medicine and health care, visit the AAFP Media Center.

For more information about health care, health conditions, and wellness, please visit familydoctor.org.