Commentary on Electronic Health Record Usability and Post-Surgical Outcomes Among Older Adults with Dementia

Since the passage of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act in February of 2009, there has been mounting pressure for adoption and meaningful use (MU) of electronic health records (EHRs) in both inpatient and outpatient health systems ( ). EHRs play a critical role in the evolution of technology-based U.S. healthcare systems, and through federal reimbursement and incentive programs, the adoption rate has drastically increased from 9% in hospitals and 17% in office-based physicians in 2008, to 96% and 78%, respectively, in 2021 ( ). A well-operating health information technology has the potential to improve work efficiency and productivity, increase quality of coordinated care and patient safety, and mitigate the financial burden of healthcare provision ( ). However, there are multiple challenges associated with adoption of EHRs, including concerns surrounding their usability and ability to support the workflow of an interdisciplinary team of clinicians. Reports of problems ranging from user fatigue to increased error rates in clinical tasks, like developing care plans or administering medications, suggest that a lack of EHR usability can negatively impact patient outcomes in both direct and indirect ways ( ). While such issues are critical across a wide range of patient populations, the article “Electronic Health Record Usability and Post-Surgical Outcomes Among Older Adults with Dementia” by Hovsepian and colleagues, gives us an initial window into the impact of the EHR usability on post-surgical patient outcomes for older adults with dementia.