Amid the current push to get more providers to adopt electronic health records, one group is recommending that a new agency be set up to oversee and regulate the use of the technology.

In a new report titled Health IT and Patient Safety: Building Safer Systems for Better Care, the Institute of Medicine points out that there is essentially no agency overseeing the use of EHRs to make sure that they are being deployed in a safe and consistent manner.

The Food and Drug Administration is the most obvious agency to task with the responsibility, but the report states that regulations from this government body have stifled innovation in other areas of medicine, which could jeopardize the growth in EHR use currently underway.

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT may be next in line to take over full regulatory duties, but this agency lacks the investigative authority to make this feasible, the report states.

Therefore, the authors of the paper call for an entirely new regulatory agency. This authority would have full regulatory power over EHR use and collect reports from physicians to ensure that the technology is being used to enhance patient safety.