Source: Health Data Management
A primary tool for gauging physician challenges with documentation is the audit log, with has been identified by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology as “a uniquely rich data source that can be efficiently leveraged to measure EHR burden.” ONC-certified EHRs must be capable of generating audit logs “based on a set of specific events, which make it possible to create comprehensive reports on clinicians’ EHR use.” These logs can help see how much time is required to do certain tasks, such as note-taking, chart review and messaging. In its blog, ONC reports that, in 2021, “more than two-thirds of hospitals had access to measures from their EHR developer that quantified the amount of time clinicians spent documenting in the EHR.”