Health care data standards are required for medically effective use of workstations

Uniform, accurate, and longitudinal patient care data is needed for greater quality and efficiency in institutional and ambulatory care. Further, the knowledge to be gained from medical effectiveness research methods, applied to large quantities of such clinical data about the practice of medicine in the community, is immense. National standards for the coding, content, and electronic transfer of patient care data are needed to achieve uniformity and accuracy. These standards are slow in developing because no single private organization can capture sufficient benefit. Yet, the general public can benefit substantially. Consequently, there may be a role for the Federal Government to work with the private sector to accelerate needed health care data standards. This paper suggests activities that help to define this role.