Social Security wants EMR access for disability determination

Here's something novel--a proposal that might push the private sector healthcare industry further into the future while improving a government agency's efficiency. The Social Security Administration is proposing to develop a prototype for a system that could automatically grab information it needs for disability determinations from EMRs.

The agency, which processes more than 2.5 million claims every year, works with paper records right now. It estimates that it spends more than $500 million a year to retrieve those records from providers.

The SSA is already pilot-testing such a process with Boston's Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the Cleveland Clinic. Now, it's inviting EMR and PHR vendors, providers and payers to suggest ways such a process could be expanded nationally.

To learn more about the pilot-test:
- read this Government Health IT piece

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