While the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has set specific meaningful use requirements for the medical community, there are no set standards for caregivers seeking to use computerized medical records.

Last week, Health Level Seven International (HL7) – a nonprofit standards developing organization – announced the release of its pilot membership program along with a website geared toward including caregivers' opinions in developing standards for EHR systems, according to Healthcare IT News.

"For several years, the HL7 leadership has voiced its concerns about the typical first encounter with the standards development process," Charles Jaffe, CEO of HL7, told the news source. "Now we are in a better position to translate the practical clinical expertise of these caregivers into tangible improvements in the interaction with the health record technology."

The HL7 Caregiver Membership offers many benefits. For example, with this membership, caregivers can ensure that the standards for adopting EHR systems are practical and useful and able to support the information exchange between the medical provider and the patient's family.

By participating in this program, caregivers may improve the quality of the standards for using EHR systems, will meet nationally recognized health IT experts and gain knowledge on how data standards improve patient care and efficiency of the healthcare sector. Through this program, caregivers will gather the data they need when deciding to purchase quality EHR systems.

Dr. Feliciano Yu, pediatrician and co-chair of the HL7 Child Health Work Group explained how involvement with HL7 enabled him to use information technology within the healthcare sector to improve patient care.

Chiropractic offices and other healthcare organizations looking to enhance communication with caregivers should consider adopting computerized medical records from a trusted vendor of EHR systems.