Has EHR Usability Suffered For The Sake Of Adoption Speed?

The need for speed may have left truly meaningful use of electronic health records in the dust, says Larry Pawola, Professor at the University of Illinois at Chicago Health Informatics in a blog for The Information Daily.  Currently available EHR systems lack efficiency and usability, and have prompted an overwhelming number of complaints from providers who aren’t seeing the benefits of EHR adoption they were promised by vendors and federal regulators alike.

EHRs simply don’t provide the advanced functionality necessary to keep up with the needs of providers facing increasing pressure to boost quality and efficiency in order to maintain their Medicare reimbursement rates, argues Pawola.  “Many healthcare organizations, clinics and practices complain that recently implemented EHR systems are failing to increase patient care and safety, as well as streamline medical information because they are not functionally integrated into the specific environment in which they operate,” he writes.  “While technologically speaking, they are state-of-the-art systems, the interface as well as advanced functions still needs finessing.”