Athena Adopts ASCO's HL7-Approved Electronic Data Sharing Guide

Athena Breast Health Network (Athena) has adopted the ASCO’s Health Level Seven International (HL7®)-approved guide for sharing electronic data for breast cancer treatment.The Guide was developed by ASCO and approved through HL7 to become a national data exchange standard. With the Guide, Athena can utilize structured data capture tools for coordination of care, registry submission, and research.

“ASCO applauds the leadership of both Athena and the Institute for Population Health Improvement in adopting this data sharing treatment plan and guide,” said ASCO President Clifford A. Hudis, MD, FACP. “Their use of these standards will help physicians and practices move towards secure sharing of electronic information, so that they can improve patient care.”

EHRs often contain data that cannot easily be shared among physicians or contributed to quality improvement, public health reporting or analytics. In addition, the current exchange standards did not include disease-specific templates needed for continuity of cancer care. To fill this void, ASCO hosted a Data Interoperability Standards Summit in February 2013 to encourage collaboration in developing standards that will overcome these barriers. The Society selected adjuvant treatment for breast cancer as the focus for the first oncology standard. The draft standard was approved by open ballot through HL7, an accredited Standards Developing Organization (SDO) and the leading global SDO focused solely on health care, in May 2013.

Read the press release here:

http://bit.ly/1rPtcqt

Source: ASCO