Dive Brief:
- The American Medical Association and MedStar Health’s National Center for Human Factors in Healthcare have developed a framework “that shows a lack of focus among regulators and industry on user-centered design and usability testing” for EHRs.
- The framework seeks to promote transparency around how EHRs are designed and user-tested as well as drive improvements in clinician support and patient safety.
- The framework, named “The EHR User-Centered Design Evaluation Framework,” looks into the design and testing processes for optimizing usability in 20 common EHR products using information reported to vendors to meet certification requirements.
Dive Insight:
"It is important to recognize that this framework evaluates conformity with best practices identified in human factors and usability literature for user-centered design and testing. We are not evaluating the actual usability of the product as experienced by end users," said Dr. Raj Ratwani, scientific director of the Human Factors Center and a principle developer of the framework, in a prepared statement. "Alignment with best practices for user-centered design and testing is a starting point that regulators and industry should meet and exceed. The framework we developed is the first step in bringing greater transparency to the usability processes of EHR vendors."
Ratwani added, "To improve the usability of EHRs we need to promote rigorous usability development processes based on recognized methods and standards."
The AMA stated it will continue to move to advance the goal of more usable EHR products based on eight usability priorities created last year by the AMA to lead EHR design improvements.