ONC Finds Ways to Make EHRs More Readable

The Office of the National Coordinator for HIT has announced winners of a contest to convert printed text-based electronic health records into far more consumer-friendly versions. The goal is to make it easier for consumers to find and understand information in a printed record, whether downloaded via the government-funded Blue Button technology or through proprietary vendor technology.

Four winners from 230 entrants were selected in ONC’s Health Design challenge in four areas: overall design, medication section, medical/problem history and lab summaries. The winning designs split information into charts and other graphics, making it easy to find recent treatments, current medications and dosage times, medical contacts, allergies, and test results including whether progress is being made or slipping, with suggestions for improvement, among other items.

Views of the winning designs are available at http://healthdesignchallenge.com.