Healthcare Usability Topics

EHRA Raises Concerns About 2015 EHR Certification Criteria

In a letter to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, the Electronic Health Record Association raised concerns about a proposed rule containing voluntary certification criteria for electronic health record systems in 2015, EHR Intelligence re

Study: Low Awareness, Usability Limit Veterans' Blue Button Adoption

Veterans' adoption of the Blue Button tool to access their health information through the Department of Veterans Affairs' personal health record portal is lagging, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, FierceEMR reports (Durben-Hirsch, FierceEMR, 4/23).

Top Primary Care Electronic Health Records Honors Announced by 2014 Black Book Satisfaction Survey

Two thousand primary care surveyed EHR users narrowed down an elite group of systems vendors across eighteen probing key performance indicators from a field of over 400 qualified healthcare software firms. As thousands of primary care practices still scramble to select and implement records systems, current adopters identify the firms that delivered on implementation success, productivity, outcomes, connectivity, meaningful use achievement and crucial stimulus fund requirements.

Integrating Electronic Health Records into Clinical Workflow: An Application of Human Factors Modeling Methods to Ambulatory Care

From the executive summary, “These recommendations provide a first step in moving from a billing-centered perspective (i.e., focusing
on ensuring maximum and timely reimbursement) to a clinician-centered perspective where the EHR design supports clinical cognitive work,
such as moving from an initial working diagnosis to a formal diagnosis for a complex patient. These recommendations point the way towards a “patient visit
management system,” which incorporates broader notions of supporting workload management, and supporting the flexible flow of patients and tasks.”

Update on the U.S. Access Board's Refresh of the Section 508 Standards and Telecommunications Act Accessibility Guidelines

The U.S. Access Board Logo

The U.S. Access Board is in the process of jointly updating its Section 508 Standards for Electronic and Information Technology and its Telecommunications Act (Section 255) Accessibility Guidelines. On February 23, the Board submitted a proposed rule to update these standards and guidelines to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review. OMB has 90 days to review the rule under Executive Order 12866. Once cleared by OMB, the proposed rule will be published in the Federal Register and will be available for public comment for a specified period of time.

HIMSS 2014 Is NEXT WEEK!

We are based in the Washington DC Metro Area (Fairfax, VA ) and have been dealing with snow-days, snow delays, traffic etc. If you are anything like us, you are looking forward to HIMSS 2014. Not only for the informative sessions, meetings with vendors, networking with colleagues, but for THE WEATHER.

The Weather Channel says that for next week Orlando FL will be in the mid 70s. Nice.

ONC Now Requires Publicly Accessible Certification Test Results

ONC’s 2014 Edition EHR Certification Criteria define the requirements that EHR technology must meet in order to be used by eligible professionals (EPs), eligible hospitals (EHs), and critical access hospitals (CAHs) participating in the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs. In addition to these criteria, ONC made some policy changes to the HIT Certification Program.

CCHIT will no longer offer ONC testing and certification services, or its independently developed certification programs

CCHIT announced a new strategic direction that will return it to its founding public mission of supporting the adoption of robust, interoperable health information technology. CCHIT plans to offer direct counsel to both healthcare providers and health IT developers on the requirements for certified EHR technology and how to best satisfy HIT regulations published by organizations and governments.

EHR Usability Consultation and Certification

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) has released certification and meaningful use requirements for electronic health records (EHRs). These require that EHR vendors include evidence of user-centered design and user test results in their certification submission. To be able to obtain the ONC certification (and meaningful use funding) EHR vendors must follow a formal User Centered Design (UCD) process and perform summative usability testing on specific areas of the product.

CGI Federal out -- Accenture in for Healthcare.gov

The Obama administration has signed Accenture to replace CGI Federal as the main IT contractor on the HealthCare.gov health insurance exchange, according to a Jan. 10 Washington Post report. See http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/obama-administration-to-end-contr...

The deal would have a 12-month term and is estimated at about $90 million, the Post reported.

Top five reasons the new Meaningful Use timeline will be good for EHR vendors

Usability test in progress.  Usability Consultants at the Usability People EHR Safety Enhanced Design

1. EHR Vendors will have more time to focus on their users.

a. To be able to obtain the ONC certification (and meaningful use funding for their customers) EHR vendors must follow a formal User Centered Design (UCD) process.
b. We recommend that EHR vendors follow ISO-9241-11 and show evidence that their design process is focused upon efficiency, effectiveness, and satisfaction.

2. EHR vendors will have time to perform many iterations of user testing.

ONC Webinar on Meaningful Use Timeline -- Wed December 18, 2014

HHS.gov logo.  EHR Usability testing for Meaningful Use. Consutants

Join ONC on Wednesday, December 18 for a webinar discussion regarding the proposed regulatory timeline for EHR certification criteria for 2015.

Web Conference Information

Conference Line: 888-469-1748
Meeting Number: 243-89

ONC subject matter experts will provide information about the new timeline and then will be available for a question-and-answer session following the presentation.

Agenda

Our Client WCH Service Bureau’s iSmart EHR Receives ONC-ACB Certification by Drummond Group

NEW YORK, December 6, 2013 – WCH’ Service Bureau’s iSmart EHR has been tested and certified under the Drummond Group's Electronic Health Records Office of the National Coordinator Authorized Certification Body (ONC-ACB) program. This EHR software is compliant in accordance with the criteria adopted by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Today is World Usability Day!!! November 14th 2013

Today is World Usability Day!

The importance of user-centered design in healthcare is truly life or death. Whether it's new medical devices or technologies; drug research, approval or delivery; patient forms or medical record sharing; emergency disaster planning or increasing the functionality of hospitals and everyday healthcare delivery, everyone is affected in some way by the intersection of usability in healthcare. There are many commonalities, yet each region of the world faces its own set of unique challenges.

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