On May 28, 2015, a panel from the American Medical Informatics Association (“AMIA”) published an eleven-page “Report of the AMIA EHR 2020 Task Force on the Status and Future Direction of EHRs.”  Recognizing that current problems in EHR use “are complex” and that “[s]olving these problems will require regulatory stability, the development of an acceptable threshold ‘barrier to entry’ into the EHR marketplace, and a supportive national policy,” the report outlines ten “near-term strategies” to address challenges with EHR systems.   

The report’s recommendations cover five areas, which should be “a focus” over the next six to twelve months.  These areas are:

1. Simplify and speed documentation;

2. Refocus regulation;

3. Increase transparency and streamline certification;

4. Foster innovation; and

5. “The EHR in 2020 must support person-centered care delivery.”

The recommendations include:

1. Lessen the data entry burden on clinicians, by allowing relevant information to be entered by, for example, other members of the care team;

2. Focus regulation on clarifying and simplifying certification procedures and meaningful use regulations, improving data exchange and interoperability, cutting the need for duplicate data entry, and prioritizing patient outcomes;

3. Improve flexibility and transparency in the EHR certification process to improve usability and safety and foster innovation;

4. Use “public standards-based application programming interfaces and data standards that will enable EHRs to become more open to innovators, researchers, and patients”; and

5. Integrate EHRs into the full social context of care.