While governments and groups gnash teeth and craft future policy concerning EHR usability, providers are turning to overlay software to recast EHR workflow.
This article appears in the June 2015 issue of HealthLeaders magazine.
Electronic health records are doing more than ever, but providers are challenged like never before to find ways to make them easier to work with and more productive; in short, more usable.
In January, the American Medical Association, joined by 34 other medical professional organizations including the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives, told government regulators there is an urgent need to change the current federal EHR certification program to better align end-to-end testing to focus on EHR usability, interoperability, and safety. CMS has even recommended enhanced user-centered design principles in the 2015 EHR certification criteria proposed in conjunction with meaningful use stage 3.
While governments and groups gnash teeth and craft future policy concerning EHR usability, providers are turning to overlay software—some of it powered by speech input, some of it running on simplified tablet-based desktop or mobile user interfaces—to recast EHR workflow.
Scott Mace is the former senior technology editor for HealthLeaders Media. He is now the senior editor, custom content at H3.Group.