The AMA and MedStar Health are asking physicians to join their campaign to improve electronic health records (EHR) safety and usability. A key component is MedStar’s letter to Congress that anyone can sign, asking legislators to make sure the federal Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) includes safety as a usability criteria in its EHR reporting program and that a database to report usability and safety issues across the U.S. be created.

The deadline to sign the letter is Thursday, Feb. 28. To add your signature, go here. 

The MedStar website includes extensive information on EHR usability and safety issues and what physicians can do to address them. These issues can also contribute to physician burnout; this recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association looks at that link.