BEI HIT Blog
From: American Medical News, June 20, 2011
BEI Commentary: Usability is perhaps the most important factor in selecting an EHR. After all, if a physician cannot use the EHR effectively and efficiently, what’s the point in the first place? If you are in the market for an EHR, there are certain components to usability that physicians should be focused on. The following article summarize what you should look for.
Electronic medical record vendors are taking steps to ensure not only that their products have all the bells and whistles required under meaningful use rules, but also that the products are easy for physicians to use.
Though a system’s so-called usability has been one of the barriers to physicians adopting EMRs, there have been other pressing issues that vendors, as well as the government, have focused on in an attempt to spur adoption of health information technology.
“It’s been a natural progression rather than, ‘We forgot about that,’ ” said Edna Boone, senior director of health care information systems for the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society, of the recent focus on making systems easier to use. Read More
From: American Medical News, June 20, 2011
BEI Commentary: When implementing an EHR, productivity and clinical decision making are perhaps the two most important factors in the selection process. Both of these are a function of usability. Here is a very nice, concise discussion on EHR usability. If you are in the market for an EHR, make sure you include usability questions during vendor demonstrations.
Electronic medical record vendors are taking steps to ensure not only that their products have all the bells and whistles required under meaningful use rules, but also that the products are easy for physicians to use.
Though a system’s so-called usability has been one of the barriers to physicians adopting EMRs, there have been other pressing issues that vendors, as well as the government, have focused on in an attempt to spur adoption of health information technology. Read More
From: American Medical News, June 6, 2011
BEI Commentary: At your office, are you focused on green? No, I don’t mean money. I mean saving energy and materials. By implementing an EHR, you are automatically reducing waste by reducing the amount of paper in the office. However, there are some things you can do to limit your energy consumption, which is something that may save real green ($$), by looking at which devices you buy and when they are turned on.
Physicians can reduce their practices’ carbon footprint — and their expenses — when they buy the right technology and use it in an eco-friendly way.
Since he was a teenager, Daniel Wolk, MD, a family physician in the suburbs of Philadelphia, has had a passion for protecting the environment. Now that he is physician, he sees energy conservation as a key component to patient care.
“My driving philosophy is that my patients will be most healthy when they have a healthy environment to live in. So I feel as a physician I have a role in helping to make that happen,” he said. Read More
