2019 ACC/AHA/ASE Key Data Elements and Definitions for Transthoracic Echocardiography: A Report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Clinical Data Standards (Writing Committee to Develop Clinical Data Standards for Transthoracic Echocardiography) and the American Society of Echocardiography

Douglas et al; Transthoracic Echo Data Standards monization with other standards as health information technology and clinical practice evolve.The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act privacy regulations, which went into effect in April 2003, have heightened all practitioners' awareness of our professional commitment to safeguard our patients' privacy.The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act privacy regulations 1 specify which information elements are considered "protected health information."These elements may not be disclosed to third parties (including registries and research studies) without the patient's written permission.Protected health information may be included in databases used for healthcare operations under a data use agreement.Research studies using protected health information must be reviewed by an institutional review board or a privacy board.We have included identifying information in all clinical data standards to facilitate uniform collection of these elements when appropriate.For example, a longitudinal clinic database may contain these elements because access is restricted to the patient's caregivers.Conversely, registries may not contain protected health information unless specific permission is granted by each patient.These fields are indicated as protected health information in the data standards.In clinical care, caregivers communicate with each other through a common vocabulary.In an analogous manner, the integrity of clinical research depends on firm adherence to prespecified procedures for patient enrollment and follow-up; these procedures are guaranteed through careful attention to definitions enumerated in the study protocol, case report forms, and clinical event committee charters.When data elements and definitions are standardized across studies, comparison, pooled analysis, and meta-analysis are enabled, thus deepening our understanding of individual studies.The recent development of quality-performance measurement initiatives, particularly those for which the comparison of providers is an implicit or explicit aim, has further raised awareness about the importance of data standards.Indeed, a wide audience, including nonmedical professionals such as payers, regulators, and consumers, may draw conclusions about care and outcomes.To understand and compare care patterns and outcomes, the data elements that characterize them must be clearly defined, consistently used, and properly interpreted.