Experts discuss why improving EHRs should be a top priority

A focus on the design and end-user experience of electronic health records (EHR) is key to improving the practice of medicine for both physicians and their patients. Find out what five experts had to say about why improving EHRs must be a top priority. What’s the problem with EHRs? With the Medicare Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) on the horizon, EHRs must be designed to work more effectively so the new system does not repeat the issues of the past. “Constraints are interfering with the evolution of the technology,” said AMA President Steven J. Stack, MD. “The vendors have designed products to satisfy the government and its certification program but … do not fulfill the needs of the clinicians.” “We have to help the technology blend into the background as a supporting role,” Dr. Stack said. “One of its central failures right now is that EHRs are the central actor in a play of people, and we need to get the people—the patients, the physicians and the other caregivers—back in the center of this performance.” “Physicians spend too much time away from their patients and also continuing their work at home,” said Christine Sinsky, MD, AMA vice president of professional satisfaction. A study at the University of Wisconsin found that doctors spend 38 hours a month of their own personal time on documentation, with a peak on Saturday nights, Dr. Sinsky said. “I don’t know if that’s good for patients …. I want my doctor to love h...
Source: AMA Wire - Category: Journals (General) Authors: Source Type: news