As we work to improve the health of millions of Americans, ONC is excited to announce the release of the Million Hearts^® EHR Optimization Guides. These guides will help healthcare professionals use their electronic health record (EHR) systems to identify at-risk patients and protect them from heart attacks, strokes, and other cardiovascular events.

Through helpful step by step instructions, the EHR Optimization Guides illustrate how providers can use their EHR products to find, use, and improve data on the “ABCS”:

• Aspirin therapy when appropriate
• Blood pressure control
• Cholesterol management
• Smoking cessation

Ultimately, these guides facilitate the timely and systematic identification of at-risk patients, helping clinical teams across the country protect their patients from heart attacks, strokes, and other cardiovascular events.

Call to Action

Million Hearts^® is a national initiative to prevent 1 million heart attacks and strokes by 2017. It unites communities, health systems, nonprofit organizations, federal agencies, and private-sector partners from across the country to fight heart disease and stroke. Through Million Hearts^®, together, we can improve the health of millions of Americans by improving the ABCS: Aspirin therapy, Blood pressure control, Cholesterol management, and Smoking cessation.

Healthcare professionals – many through the Regional Extension Center (REC) Program – have expressed the need for assistance in maximizing EHR functionality to improve the quality and efficiency of care being provided to patients. As a result, ONC disseminated an open, nationwide “Call to Action”, through which all EHR vendors were invited to develop vendor-specific guides around extracting patient-level data on the seven (7) Million Hearts^® measures to assist healthcare professionals with planning performance and quality improvement interventions. To date, NextGen, Cerner, and Allscripts have each responded to the call, producing the first of these guides.

In showcasing these guides, we would like to encourage all EHR vendors to collaborate with ONC on developing additional Million Hearts^® EHR Optimization Guides. For more information about developing your own guide, please contact us. We would love to add your guide to the Million Hearts Resource Center on HealthIT.gov. Let’s work together towards advancing and optimizing how health care is being delivered!