New safety reporting website for electronic health records launched

The Wall Street Journal: An alliance of executives from medical societies and professional liability carriers yesterday launched "EHRevent.org, a new safety reporting system for [electronic health records] EHRs. Doctors and other health-care workers can go online and report problems and mistakes they experience as they ramp up the use of digitized records. Even if EHRs reduce the risk of errors overall, they may produce entirely new ones. … For example, EHRs may cut the risk of failing to alert a patient to an abnormal test result, but confusing user interfaces may produce their own mistakes and need tinkering" (Hobson, 11/15).

HealthData Management: "Reported events will be confidential but used as the basis to generate other reports that medical societies, malpractice insurers and government agencies can use 'to help educate providers on the potential challenges that EHR systems may bring,' according to the" iHealth Alliance. "The Food and Drug Administration will use data collected on the site to assist in evaluating safety issues that may arise during the forthcoming widespread implementation of EHRs" (Goedert, 11/15).