Powell, Position Paper – Call for an Integrated (Medical/Dental) Health Care Model, RMU, December 2008 – Page 1/51 Call for an Integrated (Medical/Dental) Health Care Model that Optimally Supports Chronic Care, Pediatric Care, and Prenatal Care as a Basis for 21 st Century EHR Standards and Products: EHR Position Paper Based on a paper distributed at the Conference on the Electronic Health Record: Best Practices and New Horizons, Wake Forest University Translational Science Institute, Winston-Salem, NC, USA, October 1-3, 2008; and presented for the Institute for Medical Biometry and Medical Informatics (IMBI), Albert-Ludwigs- Universität, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, October 13, 2008 Valerie J. H. Powell, RT(R), PhD Franklin M. Din, DDS, MA University Professor Senior Informatics Consultant Computer and Information Systems Apelon, Inc., Robert Morris University Ridgefield, CT 06877 USA Moon Township, PA 15108 USA email:
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[email protected] Abstract Significant changes in the model for health care have been set in motion. Triggered by science and research and the evolution of medical and dental practice, a very costly domain in healthcare, chronic care , now demands that medical and dental care and data be integrated. To reduce the costs of such change and facilitate this change and to assure the highest quality care and safety for patients, the model that informs electronic health record standards, design and implementation needs to correspond to the anticipated model for integrated health care that supports communication among medical and dental providers, avoids discrepancies between records and information available to different providers for the same patient, optimally supports a wellness model of healthcare, and permits the greatest benefit to be derived from the collaboration of the medical and dental professions.