NIST Seeks Vendors' EHRs to Study Usability

The National Institute of Standards and Technology needs the help of vendors to supply their existing electronic health records so the agency can conduct research on the systems to develop procedures for measuring and evaluating their usability. NIST wants to come up with performance-oriented user interface design guidelines for EHRs as a framework for assessing the usability of EHRs, according to the agency.

NIST may also examine relevant instructions, documentation and EHR error messages, the agency said in an announcement in the Feb. 14 Federal Register. Manufacturers can sign up until March 15 to participate.

Providers increasingly rely on EHRs and require more functionality and robust performance from their systems, especially fueled by meaningful use criteria. But providers and health IT researchers have reported uneven usefulness, ease of usability and user satisfaction among EHRs...