From The Health Care Blog: Glenn Laffel is a physician with a PhD in Health Policy from MIT and serves as Practice Fusion's Senior VP, Clinical Affairs.
As any left-handed person that has struggled to use a pair of scissors or a fountain pen will verify, the design of a tool impacts the quality of the work done with that tool. That’s true for electronic health records, as well. EMRs support complex cognitive processes, and the way they are designed directly impacts the speed and accuracy of a clinician’s work.
Last Friday, we argued that the Feds are obligated to assure the safety and effectiveness of electronic health records, since they are using taxpayer dollars to accelerate their dissemination (via HITECH).
Health information technology stocks were market darlings in 2009. They soared because analysts foresaw strong prospects for revenue growth in the sector once President Obama signed the stimulus bill into law (exactly one year ago, today).
Last week, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) released criteria that will be used to certify EHRs as appropriate support tools for providers who want to qualify for Bonanza Days.
