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CHRONIC DISEASE CARE
PROGRAMSBROWSE TOPICSABOUT CHCFMY ACCOUNT
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ELINCS: Developing a National Lab Data Standard for EHRs February 2006 
Shortcut to: ELINCS Data Generation and Evaluation (EDGE) Software The adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) is a key step toward improving the quality, safety, and efficiency of health care delivery. Yet the vast majority of physician practices still rely on antiquated paper records. The purchase of EHR systems can be prohibitively expensive and technically daunting to physician practices that generally have little to no information technology resources. Equally important, the real and perceived benefits of EHRs to physician practices are still limited. Improving EHR features such as real-time access to lab results data would increase the incentive to adopt EHR technology. The EHR-Lab Interoperability and Connectivity Standards (ELINCS) project has developed a national standard for the delivery of real-time laboratory results from a lab's information system to an electronic health record. Typically this process can be a fractured one in which lab results are sent to the ordering doctor's office via fax or mail. The results must be filed in the patient's paper chart or manually entered into the physician's EHR.
Figure 1 shows how the ELINCS data standard would improve this process. In this example, a lab requisition form is written by the provider on behalf of the patient and delivered (typically by the patient) to the lab draw station. The specimen is drawn and transported to the lab for analysis. With the ELINCS standard, results will be transmitted electronically to the ordering provider's EHR system where they can be reviewed with the rest of the patient's history, including past lab results. While this is just one example of how the lab test is carried out, the ELINCS standard would always be used to speed the results back to the patient's electronic health record. Additional variations on the lab test procedure can be found in the slide presentation available for download below. The creation and adoption of a national standard will simplify the use of electronic health records systems. Physician practices can reap tangible benefits early in EHR implementation and reduce costs associated with EHR system installation and configuration. ELINCS has worked closely with other national and international efforts to develop clinical data standards for EHRs to ensure widespread adoption of its standard. These include the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT); Connecting for Health (Markle Foundation); eHealth Initiative (eHI); DOQ-IT (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services); Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE); Public Health Information Network (CDC/PHIN); and Health Level Seven (HL7). CHCF engaged Sujansky and Associates LLC to lead the ELINCS technical specification development. As technical lead, Sujansky and Associates manages the multiple-disciplinary Technical Working Group, analyzing and documenting relevant use cases and technical documentation, and supports vendor implementations. For further details and the status of the specification development, see the resources available through the links below.
Document Downloads
Related CHCF Pages
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ELINCS Specifications