Electronic Health Record Time Among Outpatient Physicians: Reflections on the Who, What, and Why
Authors: Julia Adler-Milstein
Journal: Annals of Internal Medicine (2020)

Editorials4 February 2020Electronic Health Record Time Among Outpatient Physicians: Reflections on the Who, What, and WhyJulia Adler-Milstein, PhDJulia Adler-Milstein, PhDUniversity of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California (J.A.)Search for more papers by this authorAuthor, Article, and Disclosure Informationhttps://doi.org/10.7326/M19-3921 SectionsAboutFull TextPDF ToolsAdd to favoritesDownload CitationsTrack CitationsPermissions ShareFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail Overhage and McCallie (1) add to a growing number of studies that quantify the amount of time outpatient physicians spend using the electronic health record (EHR). They also break down that time by physician specialty and by section of the EHR to represent different clinical tasks. The underlying data are 1 year's worth of summary statistics from the EHR log files of U.S. physicians using the Cerner Millennium EHR. First, what is notable about the study is its scale: approximately 100 million encounters by almost 155 000 physicians from 417 health systems in 2018. Others (2–4) have tackled this same research, ...References1. Overhage JM, McCallie D. Physician time spent using the electronic health record during outpatient encounters. A descriptive study. Ann Intern Med. 2020;172:169-74. doi:10.7326/M18-3684 LinkGoogle Scholar2. Tai-Seale M, Olson CW, Li J, et al. Electronic health record logs indicate that physicians split time evenly between seeing patients and desktop medicine. Health Aff (Millwood). 2017;36:655-62. [PMID: 28373331] doi:10.1377/hlthaff.2016.0811 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar3. Arndt BG, Beasley JW, Watkinson MD, et al. Tethered to the EHR: primary care physician workload assessment using EHR event log data and time-motion observations. Ann Fam Med. 2017;15:419-26. [PMID: 28893811] doi:10.1370/afm.2121 CrossrefMedlineGoogle Scholar4. Sinsky C, Colligan L, Li L, et al. Allocation of physician time in ambulatory practice. A time and motion study in 4 specialties. Ann Intern Med. 2016;165:753-60. [PMID: 27595430]. doi:10.7326/M16-0961 LinkGoogle Scholar5. The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; National Academy of Medicine. Taking Action Against Clinician Burnout: A Systems Approach to Professional Well-Being. Washington, DC: National Academies Pr; 2019. Google Scholar Author, Article, and Disclosure InformationAffiliations: University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, California (J.A.)Disclosures: The author has disclosed no conflicts of interest. The form can be viewed at www.acponline.org/authors/icmje/ConflictOfInterestForms.do?msNum=M19-3921.Corresponding Author: Julia Adler-Milstein, PhD, University of California, San Francisco, 3333 California Street, Suite 265, San Francisco, CA 94118; e-mail, julia.[email protected]edu.This article was published at Annals.org on 14 January 2020. PreviousarticleNextarticle Advertisement FiguresReferencesRelatedDetailsSee AlsoPhysician Time Spent Using the Electronic Health Record During Outpatient Encounters J. Marc Overhage and David McCallie Jr. Metrics Cited byQuantified electronic health record (EHR) use by academic surgeonsAssessment of Electronic Health Record Use Between US and Non-US Health SystemsPatient Portal Use, Perceptions of Electronic Health Record Value, and Self-Rated Primary Care Quality Among Older Adults: Cross-sectional SurveyPhysician Time Spent Using the Electronic Health Record During Outpatient EncountersJohn Weiser, MD, MPHQuality & safety in the literature: May 2020 4 February 2020Volume 172, Issue 3Page: 212-213KeywordsChartsElectronic medical recordsFatigueHealth careNephrologyOutpatientsPerceptionRehabilitation medicineSports and exercise medicineStatistical data ePublished: 14 January 2020 Issue Published: 4 February 2020 Copyright & PermissionsCopyright © 2020 by American College of Physicians. All Rights Reserved.PDF downloadLoading ...