Funding Option for Implementing EMR Solution

The herculean task of assuring compliance with the proposed federal guidelines for the use of electronic medical records (EMR) comes with a hefty price tag. The expenses to hospitals and private physicians include not only the price of the software and technical support, but also the contracted manpower to enter all current data into the electronic system.

In 2009, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) and the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act was created to fund and support a paperless national health information network through the adoption of EMR solution. The stimulus is based either on Medicare OR Medicaid but not both. The incentive per practice provider began in 2011 and reduces payments through 2016. After this date a penalty of 2% less reimbursement from CMS occurs for physicians not using EMR solution.

EMR and Usability

Electronic Medical Record (EMR) companies must pay close attention to the usability of their product. Usability is the idea of making software, in this case, easy for users to learn and operate. Patients and providers alike will get the most out of an EMR if the usability is at a high level. Understanding human behavior and designing software around the user are both key to creating an EMR with optimal usability.

The EMR Usability Group is a great resource that discusses and outlines key criteria of usability for an EMR program. Key components of Electronic Medical Records (EMR) usability is interface design, interface layout, and matching the office workflow.

EMR Usability:

- Simplicity

- Naturalness

- Consistency

- Minimizing Cognitive Load

- Efficient Interactions

- Forgiveness

- Feedback

- Effective Use of Language

- Effective Information Presentation

- Preservation of Context