How to Preserve EHRs for the Long-Term?

Federal agencies will sponsor a two-day workshop, April 5-6 in Bethesda, Md., on long-term preservation and management of electronic health records.

Sponsors include the National Institute of Standards and Technology, National Institutes of Health/National Library of Medicine, Department of Veterans Affairs, and the National Archives and Records Administration. Presenters include renowned informaticists and CIOs in addition to federal policymakers. Topics being covered include:

* Types of information to be retained and for how long,

* Adjusting to obsolescence of hardware and software, and accommodating new technology,

* Privacy and legal requirements,

* Verifying the quality of archived patient information,

* Ensuring version control of information, and

* Differing preservation and management requirements for patient, researcher and insurer data, among other types.

Registration soon will be available at http://ddpehr.nist.gov/home.php.

--Joseph Goedert