Adoption of the Continuity of Care Record within healthcare has moved one step closer to reality as a standards-setting organization readies publication of a common framework for such records.

The CCR, which is a document that summarizes patients' health information so that it can be shared with multiple providers, is seen as a first step toward adoption of electronic health records. The standard defines the CCR's elements, provides a guide for implementing the record and lays out a definition, which details how to code elements in an XML document. In addition, the group has defined specific and general cases where the CCR could be used, according to Rick Peters, MD, a contributor to the CCR effort.

Members of standards organization ASTM International's E31 Healthcare Informatics Committee met in Washington, D.C., earlier this month to address some final changes to the standard. The group will gather input for the draft final changes until July 15. By July 22, the group plans to submit the final document to ASTM for publication. The standard could be publicly available by this fall.

Although the record is not intended as a replacement for digital medical records, Peters, who also works as a technical consultant for the American Academy of Family Physicians' Center for Health Information Technology, said the CCR could accelerate the adoption of EHRs. The CCR helps standardize some of the core data that could be used within an electronic health record, he said.

Healthcare IT vendors are eager to begin incorporating the standard into their products, according to CCR project leaders.

"Both vendors and users are champing at the bit," said Claudia Tessier, executive director of the Mobile Healthcare Alliance and co-chair of the ASTM E31.28 CCR workgroup.

Electronic health records vendors have discussed forming a group to help vendors implement the CCR. Tessier said some vendors also were interested in using a draft of the standard to get an early start on integrating the CCR into other applications.

In the meantime, the federal government is moving ahead with efforts to create standards that would help healthcare providers exchange data electronically and certify electronic health records products. The government plans to award contracts to develop and test a method to certify EHRs and to create a process to harmonize standards in healthcare software applications. The ASTM won't take a wait-and-see approach to the government's efforts because healthcare IT vendors want to incorporate the standards faster than the government can move, Peters said.

In addition, the ASTM and standards organization Health Level 7 are exploring how to harmonize the CCR with version three of Health Level 7's clinical document architecture standard, Tessier said. However, some groups have indicated that the two groups should create one standard. In a recent white paper, the Healthcare Information Management Systems Society's Electronic Health Record Vendors Association called for a common standard to allow for the smooth transfer of medical summary information.

The ASTM has been working on the CCR standard for more than two years.