On September 26, 2016, ONC released two health IT practical tools: an electronic health record ("EHR") contract guide titled EHR Contracts Untangled: Selecting Wisely, Negotiating Terms, and Understanding the Fine Print ("EHR Contract Guide"), and an expanded Health IT Playbook. The new EHR Contract Guide is intended to help providers and health administrations planning to acquire an EHR system negotiate contract terms with vendors. Specifically, the EHR Contract Guide explains important concepts in EHR contracts, such as key rights and vendor obligations, safety and security risks, and ensuring data integrity, and it includes example contract language. The Health IT Playbook is a web-based tool intended to help providers implement and use health information in a way that best serves their practices. For example, the Health IT Playbook identifies leading practices in EHR implementation, offers solutions to providers on key issues and challenges to optimize health IT, provides guidance on health IT laws such as HIPAA, and serves as a central resource for health care providers and health IT professionals on the most up-to-date technologies and processes to support patient care.
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