At an April 21 meeting with HHS’ Certification/Adoption Workgroup, physicians expressed their concerns over how EMRs can cut into productivity. According to the news report, one internist from Dubuque, Iowa, explained how a primary care physician needs 10 minutes to navigate an EMR to order a routine mammogram, a process which “should take no more than a few seconds of a clinician’s time,” the internist said.
At the meeting, the American Medical Association proposed several recommendations regarding EMR usability, including the following:
• Vendors seeking certification for their EMR products should be required to address patient safety issues.
• EMRs should include automated reporting functions.
• Reporting functions should incorporate protections established by certified patient safety organizations.
• The ONC should monitor patient safety issues raised by vendors.
• Information gained from these processes should be analyzed and used to improve patient safety and usability of EMRs.
Read the news report about EMR usability.
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8 Problems Surrounding Meaningful Use
IT Experts, ONC Developing Measures for Testing EHR Usability
Meaningful Use Attestation Calculator Goes Live on CMS Site
