CEO Survival Guide™
Electronic Health
Record Systems
2006 Edition
National Quality Forum
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Suite 500 North
Washington, DC 20005
www.NQFExecutiveInstitute.org
© 2006 by the National Quality Forum
All rights reserved
ISBN 1-933875-04-6
Printed in the U.S.A.
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Foreword
NQF
NATIONAL QUALITY FORUM
Electronic health record (EHR) systems are an enabling foundation for healthcare reform, both
organizationally and systemwide. Investment in EHR systems leads to significant, demonstrable
improvements in safety, quality, and efficiency. Many efforts are under way in both the public
and private sectors to accelerate the adoption of EHR systems. However, successful implementa-
tion of an EHR system requires sustained leadership. It is the CEO’s responsibility, with support
from the board of trustees, to articulate a new vision of patient care, and the role of EHR
systems in achieving the vision.
The CEO Survival GuideTM to Electronic Health Record Systems is one in a series of
guides from the National Quality Forum’s (NQF) Executive Institute that focuses on the most
important policy issues and environmental forces affecting healthcare quality. The guides
provide senior executives with up-to-date information on developments at the national and
local levels, present all sides of complex issues and the perspectives of multiple stakeholders,
and analyze the implications of emerging trends and issues for the delivery of quality healthcare.
This guide provides succinct definitions of EHRs, EHR systems, and the