Designing Health Information Technology Interfaces To Improve Patient Outcomes

Further research is needed to establish best practices for integrating patient-reported information into practice through health information technology (HIT), according to AHRQ-funded research. The research is part of a special issue of eGEMS (Generating Evidence and Methods to Improve Patient Outcomes), an open-access journal that aims to accelerate research and quality improvement using electronic health data. The special issue,“Evidence Into Action: Improving User Interface To Improve Patient Outcomes,” includes AHRQ-funded studies that examined clinical decision support and the concept of usability. The issue highlights lessons learned based on the experiences of researchers who developed and tested HIT interfaces, such as websites, apps or dashboards. One study, for example, focused on a web application that enabled Rhode Island consumers to compare home health agencies based on services offered and health outcomes. In another study, researchers examined the design process used to integrate patient-reported outcomes into a visual dashboard to help spine surgeons understand a patient’s level of pain or disability following surgery.