HIMSS white paper: ?usability? critical to adoption of EMRs

CHICAGO – The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society’s EHR Usability Task Force has released a white paper focusing on the level of usability in electronic medical records and their implementation at healthcare organizations.

“Defining and Testing EMR Usability: Principles and Proposed Methods of EMR Usability Evaluation and Rating” identifies usability of software in an EMR as “one of the major factors and possibly the most important factor hindering widespread adoption of EMRs.”

“Through our research, we found that usability as a requirement in the certification process could benefit product development for more usable EMR products and give users or decision-makers more confidence in selecting clinical EMR systems,” said Jeffery L. Belden, MD, associate professor of clinical medicine at the University of Missouri Health Care’s School of Medicine and chairman of the HIMSS EHR Usability Task Force.

Principles and methods are highlighted in the study as processes that offer benefits for organizations that certify technology. These procedures allow certifications organization “to test and rate products for usability.” More Here EMR