INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY STANDARDS IN OPHTHALMOLOGY: Deciphering the Informatics Tower of Babel

Abstract

The proliferation of digital information technologies and their application in addressing the rapid growth of health care costs has brought the issue of standardizing medical information to the forefront of a national agenda. In 1996, President Clinton signed into law the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). A section of this new law (commonly referred to as administration simplification) is intended to reduce the costs and administrative burdens of health care by making possible the standardized, electronic transmission of certain administrative and financial transactions that are currently carried out manually on paper. To accomplish this goal, the law requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to adopt national uniform standards for these transactions. Although the law does not specifically require the collection or electronic transmission of any health information, it does require that the standards be followed anytime the transactions are conducted electronically. To implement these provisions, HHS has established a process that incorporates internal federal working groups, liaison with external groups of experts, and a federal advisory committee. The process provides opportunity for public and industry input and feedback to ensure acceptance by the entire health care community. As the technologies allowing the electronic exchange of this information steadily infiltrate our clinical environments, standardization issues are becoming more relevant to the individual practitioner.