American Academy of OphthalmologySpecial Requirements for Electronic Health Record Systems in Ophthalmology
Section snippets
Unique Characteristics of Ophthalmology
There are several characteristics of an ophthalmology practice that impact clinical workflow and data management requirements, all of which affect the optimal design of EHR systems. First, ophthalmology is both a medical and surgical specialty. Surgical procedures generally occur either in the office or in operating rooms, and medical clearance, if performed, usually are carried out by nonophthalmologists. Thus, EHRs must support documentation in, and transitions between, the office and
Essential Ophthalmology-Specific Electronic Health Records Functions
Based on the factors above, a number of EHR features are important enough to be considered essential for ophthalmic care (Table 1). Absence of these features could affect adversely the ability of ophthalmologists to provide safe and efficient patient care.
Other Ophthalmology-Specific Electronic Health Records Functions
Based on the factors above, there are other features that often are believed by ophthalmologists to be lacking in many EHR systems that are now commercially available (Table 1). Many of these are functionalities that physicians have become accustomed to while using traditional paper-based records. Although EHRs provide many important advantages over traditional paper-based records,17, 18 the authors believe that absence of the following features will limit the ability of EHRs to achieve their
Standards for Data Representation and Exchange
Interoperability is an important concept, representing the ability to exchange data freely among information systems and devices, regardless of the vendor or brand. This will create opportunities for important advances in medical care, data accessibility, clinical research, disease registries, and public health. Even for ophthalmologists who never exchange patient data for referral or consultation outside their practices, interoperability within their practices is required for communication
Future Directions for Electronic Health Records Systems in Ophthalmology
Technological advances and information management challenges are creating stronger incentives for ophthalmologists to adopt EHRs. Meanwhile, federal initiatives are creating rules for the meaningful use and formal certification of EHRs, along with both the incentive payments for physicians starting in 2011 and reduced payments for lack of adoption starting in 2015.7 The authors hope that this summary will help ophthalmologists to identify important features when searching for systems and will
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An IRIS Registry-Based Assessment of Primary Open-Angle Glaucoma Practice Patterns in Academic Versus Nonacademic Settings
2022, American Journal of OphthalmologyCitation Excerpt :Although the IRIS Registry already represents an exceptional resource, we believe that enhancing its ability to better capture deidentified information on “nonstructured data” (eg, pupillary testing) as well as the ability to provide quantitative data on such parameters as severity of visual field loss (eg, mean deviations) will strengthen its applications to the provision of improved clinical and surgical practices for all ophthalmologists. Chiang, Boland, Lee, and others have served as strong advocates for standardization of ophthalmic images and test data in EHRs used by ophthalmologists.32-34 This represents a critical step in establishing more consistent and objective criteria for disease severity beyond the ICD-10 diagnostic criteria used in this study.
Predictive Analytics for Glaucoma Using Data From the All of Us Research Program
2021, American Journal of OphthalmologyCitation Excerpt :Another advantage of models such as these is that they facilitate integration of systemic data into clinical decision-making. Ophthalmology is known to be a high-volume specialty that demands high efficiency during patient encounters.42 As such, time spent in reviewing the medical record for each patient is minimal, which has been demonstrated in several prior studies.43,44
Machine Learning-Based Predictive Modeling of Surgical Intervention in Glaucoma Using Systemic Data From Electronic Health Records
2019, American Journal of OphthalmologyMedicare Incentive Payments to United States Ophthalmologists for Use of Electronic Health Records: 2011–2016
2019, OphthalmologyCitation Excerpt :Unlike other similar specialties, ophthalmology was able to increase its overall share of incentive payments in each year of the program (Table 4). Possible reasons for this include efforts by the profession to educate ophthalmologists about MU and EHRs in general,3,6,17 and the relatively low rate of participation in the initial years among ophthalmologists that allowed a greater degree of improvement in subsequent years. One possible reason for the latter explanation is the relative fragmentation of the EHR market for ophthalmology.
Data-Driven Scheduling for Improving Patient Efficiency in Ophthalmology Clinics
2019, OphthalmologyCitation Excerpt :Electronic health record timestamp data also can evaluate metrics such as patient wait time after changes are implemented.21,22 Although EHRs have been criticized at times for adding time and inefficiency to clinical operations,3–6,9,27 this study shows that EHRs can be mined for data that can actually improve clinical efficiency. The second key finding is that an appointment length-based scheduling template seems to improve average patient wait time and to increase clinic volume.
Manuscript no. 2011-417.
Financial Disclosure(s): Dr. McCannel is a consultant for Savvient, Inc. and has some equity in Savvient Inc.
Supported by departmental grants from Research to Prevent Blindness, Inc., New York, New York (MFC, MVB, MCL, CAM). The sponsor or funding organization had no role in the design or conduct of this research. MFC is an unpaid member of the Scientific Advisory Board for Clarity Medical Systems, Pleasanton, California. The opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Indian Health Service.