Commentary: EHRs Failing on Usability

As physicians recognize the perils of signing EHR contracts before they truly know if an EHR is usable, they will begin to demand usable, intuitive EHRs. Increasingly, physicians will come to appreciate how financial incentives and initial system costs are dwarfed by the potential reduction in productivity and revenue when a system proves difficult to use. As they gain more exposure to the EHR market, physicians will start to ask the important questions and demand answers about the critical issue of usability, which ultimately makes or breaks their EHR experience.

This column, “EHR Report,” regularly appears in Family Practice News, an Elsevier publication. Dr. Bertman (photographed above on the right) is a family physician in private practice in Hope Valley, R.I., and clinical assistant professor of family medicine at Brown University in Providence, R.I. He also is the founder and president of AmazingCharts.com, a developer of EHR software. Dr. Skolnik (photographed above on the left) is associate director of the family medicine residency program at Abington (Pa.) Memorial Hospital and professor of family and community medicine at Temple University, Philadelphia.