ONC Releases SAFER Guides to Improve EHR System Safety

​The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) has released nine new guides to help healthcare providers and organizations assess and optimize electronic health record (EHR) system safety. Developed by health information technology (IT) safety and informatics researcher organizations, each of the Safety Assurance Factors for EHR Resilience (SAFER) guides addresses a different critical area associated with the safe use of EHRs through a series of self-assessment checklists, practice worksheets, and recommended practices. Topics addressed in the guides include high-priority practices, organizational responsibilities, patient identification, computerized physician order entry with decision support, review of test results and follow-up, clinician communication, contingency planning, system interfaces, and system configuration.