By Tammy Coutts (MEDITECH), Vice Chair of the EHR Association User Experience Work Group, and Mike Shonty (MEDITECH), Member of the User Experience Work Group

One in four Americans has a disability, whether temporary or permanent, including physical, mental, intellectual, or sensory impairments that hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others. The EHR Association has long focused on identifying ways health IT can be leveraged to advance disability inclusion across healthcare benefitting not only patients but also providers and other healthcare workers requiring accommodation to fully and effectively participate in both the provision and receipt of healthcare. 

Most recently, the Association’s User Experience Work Group has turned its focus toward advancing disability inclusion with our latest project: building awareness of how disability exclusion impacts health IT users and identifying design solutions to eliminate the challenges. This includes expanding the Association’s Personas Library to include Accessibility Personas and potentially creating workflow scenarios.