CCR Standard Heads to Health IT Vendors, Then Physicians

The long awaited continuity-of-care record standard has been approved, published and is ready for prime time. That's welcome news for physicians anxiously awaiting the integration of CCR software into their electronic health record systems.

ASTM International, the standards-setting organization charged with developing the CCR standard, announced the publication of the standard in a Jan. 5 news release.

"The CCR is now a full-fledged standard, and it's time for family physicians to push their EHR vendors to become CCR-compliant," said Steven Waldren, M.D., assistant director of AAFP's Center for Health Information Technology. He urged Academy members to check out CHiT's CCR-compatible product gallery, which features a list of health IT vendors and target dates for each company's compliance with the standard.

The CCR standard was developed with strong input from clinicians about how they anticipated using the standard in patient care, said Claudia Tessier, executive director of Mobile Healthcare Alliance and co-chair of the ASTM subcommittee on the EHR and CCR task group.

"Because of the CCR, family physicians will not have to start with a blank slate for each new patient. Rather, the CCR will provide a summary set of the patient's most relevant health status and treatment information sent either from the patient's previous clinician or delivered by the patient on paper or electronically," said Tessier. "Patients will gain confidence in their providers' access to their essential health data and will not have to endure time-consuming and costly repeat test administrations or treatment that might be contraindicated by their history," she added.

ASTM began work on the CCR in May 2003; AAFP joined the effort as a project sponsor in August 2003, offering clinical and technical expertise during its development. Other supporters include the AMA, American Academy of Pediatrics, Massachusetts Medical Society and Patient Safety Institute.

"Publication of the standard makes it an official standard, and health information technology vendors should have no qualms about purchasing the standard and incorporating the information into software products for physician use," said Waldren.

He added, "We've cleared an enormous hurdle with publication of the CCR standard, but we're still working on getting CCR software into the hands of physicians and patients. I expect we'll see a real explosion in its use in the next year."