Measuring EHR Support of Patient Education

Ever wonder how well your EHR supports patient education?  Well, clinicians may soon have an  objective assessment tool to determine if educational materials available through their EHR are easy to access, understand and act upon  by patients — including those with low health literacy levels.

Ever wonder how well your EHR supports patient education?  Well, clinicians may soon have an  objective assessment tool to determine if educational materials available through their EHR are easy to access, understand and act upon  by patients — including those with low health literacy levels.

The AHRQ is developing a health information rating system  that will rely upon consumers to review and score materials and the proposal is available for public comment through December 4th.  A draft has already been developed and is being used to assess sets of printable and audiovisual asthma and colonoscopy education resources.

The focus is on improving patient health outcomes by delivering the right information at the right time in the right way to help patients prevent or manage chronic conditions, such as, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, hypertension and asthma.  As a result, it will also be important to ensure that the rating system evolve to accommodate other emerging technologies and tools, such as dynamic and interactive social media applications.