US and UK working to strengthen use of health IT for better patient care

As the use of health information technology (health IT) grows in both the United States and the United Kingdom, Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and UK Secretary of State for Health Jeremy Hunt signed a bi-lateral agreement for the use and sharing of health IT information and tools. The agreement strengthens efforts to cultivate and increase the use of health IT tools and information designed to help improve the quality and efficiency of the delivery of health care in both countries.

Originally identified at the June 5, 2013, bilateral summit meeting between the United States and United Kingdom, the collaboration focuses on four key areas for health IT and innovation.

1. Sharing Quality Indicators -- The collaboration reviewed existing quality indicators and selected Depression symptom screening and knee/hip quality indicators, and is now identifying alignments across existing British and American repositories to identify best practices in the design and use of quality indicators. Future work will include mutually leveraging technical experts and data, and working on a standardized approach to quality indicator development;
2. Liberating Data and Putting It to Work -- HHS and the National Health Service will discuss and find areas of collaboration around open data and safe and secure data transparency of secondary stored data, with the consent of patients to allow for the two countries to further assess the quality of preventive interventions and health care delivery; and Interoperability standards for improvement of data sharing and clinical care respectively, with a focus on consumer/patients accessing and sharing their data.
3. Adopting Digital Health Record Systems -- Both organizations will work to maximize successful adoption of digital records across the health care spectrum and support the development of a robust health IT workforce; and
4. Priming the Health IT Market -- Both organizations will work to support the Health IT Marketplace by identifying barriers to innovation, sharing individual certification approaches for patients and clinician-facing applications, and strategies to support small and medium enterprises/start-ups.