Health IT vendors should develop better electronic health record technology for physician practices, according to an article published in the Journal of the American Health Information Management Association, Clinical Innovation & Technology reports.
Blair Butterfield -- author of the article and president of cloud-based EHR vendor VitaHealth Software -- wrote that before the passage of the HITECH Act, EHR technology in physician offices often resembled legacy models used in hospitals. Such technology "did not translate and scale down effectively for practices," Butterfield wrote.
Citing a Mayo Clinic analysis of how three small physician practices were using EHR systems, Blair stated that EHR vendors targeting ambulatory settings should focus on:
- Ability to mimic paper-based processes;
- Compatibility with mobile devices;
- Customization;
- Integrated clinical decision support; and
- Usability (Gale, Clinical Innovation & Technology, 10/31).