NIST Solicits Health IT Vendors
By
John Pulley
The National Institute of Standards and Technology is going straight to the source -- health IT vendors -- to create a means for evaluating the performance and usability of electronic health records.
NIST, in a Feb. 14 announcement in the Federal Register, asked companies to send their EHR systems to the agency. NIST will use them to "develop a framework for assessing the usability of health IT systems, EHRs in particular, and performance-oriented user interface design guidelines for EHRs." The institute also wants to review EHR instructions, documentation and error messages.
NIST plans to release its proposed framework in a report to be titled "NIST Usability Guidelines and Evaluation Framework for EHR Systems." Manufacturers will receive updates on information gleaned from the tests, but they will not be identified by name in the report.
Interested vendors should submit a request to participate and a letter of understanding by March 15.