Care coordination that leverages EHR data, especially data collected for children with special health care needs, is especially important for priority populations. It can be particularly challenging since many service providers for these children do not use EHRs.
Contained within the 2015 Priority List are critical EHR functions necessary to appropriately document and track childhood development, especially for children with special healthcare needs including:
The 2015 Priority List requirements support improved care coordination through the use of EHRs that provide standardized, validated instruments to screen children. For example, and EHR might help the user to document a developmental delay, and suggest follow-up care.
Incompleteness or gaps in EHR data, and lack of access to the data, create barriers to the use of pediatric EHRs for coordination of care for children with special health care needs and contribute to incomplete tracking of care coordination activities in the patient/clinical record. Continued adoption of standardized developmental screening tools will improve the documentation in EHRs, improving the coordination of care among practitioners.
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality • 5600 Fishers Lane, Rockville, MD 20857 • Telephone: (301) 427-1364
