IOM: EHR product reviews could prevent FDA regulation
The health IT community should allow reviews and comparisons of EHR products if it wants to avoid formal regulation by the FDA, according to a new discussion paper from the Institute of Medicine, Comparative User Experiences of Health IT Products: How User Experiences Would Be Reported and Used.
"With EHRs, unlike other consumer product areas, there has been little opportunity for cross-vendor comparison, which has stifled the evolution of this technology," the authors wrote.
There is nowhere for health IT users to publicly share their experiences with different EHR products, the report said, and EHR vendors often prohibit users from publicly discussing their problems with their EHR system or sharing screenshots.
According to the report, barriers to EHR users reporting problems with product usability include:
Developing metrics to compare user experience will help healthcare providers choose an EHR product and drive product improvement. The authors suggested subdividing EHR ratings for each modality to allow healthcare providers to compare only the products they need. The report also recommended gathering and reporting user experiences through point-of-use reporting and random user surveys conducted by third parties.
The report is available in its entirety on the IOM website.
"With EHRs, unlike other consumer product areas, there has been little opportunity for cross-vendor comparison, which has stifled the evolution of this technology," the authors wrote.
There is nowhere for health IT users to publicly share their experiences with different EHR products, the report said, and EHR vendors often prohibit users from publicly discussing their problems with their EHR system or sharing screenshots.
According to the report, barriers to EHR users reporting problems with product usability include:
- Vendors' fears about liability issues;
- A lack of trust in the impartiality of the group collecting data on EHR issues;
- The time needed to generate a report about EHR issues;
- Skepticism about the usefulness of reporting; and
- The amount of reports that might be generated.
Developing metrics to compare user experience will help healthcare providers choose an EHR product and drive product improvement. The authors suggested subdividing EHR ratings for each modality to allow healthcare providers to compare only the products they need. The report also recommended gathering and reporting user experiences through point-of-use reporting and random user surveys conducted by third parties.
The report is available in its entirety on the IOM website.