Kalorama: EMR usability affects loyalty
When you think of EMRs, you don’t normally think of font size. However, a report from Kalorama Information showed that font size, frame size and the number of keystrokes needed for data entry can mean the difference in whether hospitals and physicians readily adopt an EMR.
The market for EMR systems is expected to grow at 15.1 percent annually for the next five years, but that growth could hinge on the creation of more user-friendly systems, according to the report, “EMR 2011: The Market for Electronic Medical Record Systems.”
Usability was the subject of an April 2011 hearing of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Health IT Policy Committee. According to Kalorama, among the user complaints voiced in that forum were:
“Software developers emphasized the need for systems to follow routine conventions such as adopting a Microsoft Windows-like interface. One physician complained that her EMR system took 10 minutes to order a routine mammogram," the New York-based healthcare market research publisher stated.
"How many clicks, how many screen flips, how many keystrokes? These are the micro-factors that are going to be important in physician adoption of EMR, and continued use of the systems," Kalorama stated.
Information for the report was gathered from primary and secondary research, including research of secondary sources such as company literature, databases, investment reports and medical and business journals. Telephone interviews and email correspondence were the primary method of gathering information, Kalorama stated.
The market for EMR systems is expected to grow at 15.1 percent annually for the next five years, but that growth could hinge on the creation of more user-friendly systems, according to the report, “EMR 2011: The Market for Electronic Medical Record Systems.”
Usability was the subject of an April 2011 hearing of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Health IT Policy Committee. According to Kalorama, among the user complaints voiced in that forum were:
- EMR systems that forced clinicians to re-enter the same information multiple times;
- Systems that buried important information among many routine notes; and
- Systems that created confusion about the status of an ordered test.
“Software developers emphasized the need for systems to follow routine conventions such as adopting a Microsoft Windows-like interface. One physician complained that her EMR system took 10 minutes to order a routine mammogram," the New York-based healthcare market research publisher stated.
"How many clicks, how many screen flips, how many keystrokes? These are the micro-factors that are going to be important in physician adoption of EMR, and continued use of the systems," Kalorama stated.
Information for the report was gathered from primary and secondary research, including research of secondary sources such as company literature, databases, investment reports and medical and business journals. Telephone interviews and email correspondence were the primary method of gathering information, Kalorama stated.