New: EDM Forum Review

New: EDM Forum Review

Washington D.C. (10/13/2015)—Today, AcademyHealth's Electronic Data Methods (EDM) Forum released its first EDM Forum Review. The Review, which was previewed at the inaugural Concordium conference in September, is a useful resource for individuals designing and executing strategies for delivery system reform. It highlights major events, initiatives, key investments, and emerging evidence using electronic health data (EHD) to improve patient care and outcomes.

The inaugural edition of the Review ties together several of the EDM Forum's analytic efforts in one central place to tell a story about the rapid progress among the users and producers of EHD. As a digital report and living document, the Review is a resource for the entire community working with EHD, both to chart current progress and highlight emerging trends. The Review also illustrates the ongoing need for research investment in clinical research informatics and the dissemination and implementation of this research.

"The first EDM Forum Review serves as a marker of maturity for health system analytics using EHD. We found that, based on past investments and current work, the EHD ecosystem has arguably reached a crucial stage of development and is now capable of innovation and collaboration at scale" said EDM Forum Principal Investigator and eGEMs Editor-in-Chief Erin Holve, Ph.D., M.P.H., M.P.P. "The Review highlights ways in which adoption of EHRs and research investments, along with the Department of Health and Human Services' new goals for value-based payment, have created an imperative – and opportunity - to accelerate meaningful uses of EHD," she added.

The Review also recaps a number of key investments and initiatives promoting evidence-based transformation in the U.S. health care system, including:

• Significant new investments from the public and private sectors in EHD infrastructure and science;
• The adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) as a result of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act and Meaningful Use program;
• Patient engagement and a growing marketplace for mobile health technology; and
• Value-based payment goals to ensure that Medicare and other payers are paying for care based on quality rather than volume.

As leaders in health services research (HSR), AcademyHealth and the EDM Forum understand the value and importance in working with the public and private sectors, as well as multiple disciplines in health services research to improve the health system by supporting the production and use of evidence.

The EDM Forum Review is now available on the EDM Forum website.

About the EDM Forum
AcademyHealth's EDM Forum drives rapid collaboration among researchers and diverse stakeholders who create data, methods and evidence to shape the next generation of learning health systems. Established in 2010 with support from AHRQ to advance the national dialogue on the use of electronic health data for research and quality improvement, the EDM Forum is open to all.

About AcademyHealth
AcademyHealth is a leading national organization serving the fields of health services and policy research and the professionals who produce and use this important work. Together with our members, we offer programs and services that support the development and use of rigorous, relevant and timely evidence to increase the quality, accessibility, and value of health care, to reduce disparities, and to improve health. A trusted broker of information, AcademyHealth brings stakeholders together to address the current and future needs of an evolving health system, inform health policy, and translate evidence into action.