I’ve been cynical about the role the established major vendors of EHRs will play in developing better products partly because of their prior actions. On the more egregious side is their lobbying for the maintenance of screenshot “gag clauses.” Their claim is that screenshots will undermine patient privacy and their own intellectual property. I counter that clinicians who care enough to want to improve EHRs will be careful enough to censor identifying patient data. As for IP protection, I posit that those of us producing screenshots of their existing UI are motivated by a desire to change and improve things, not copy them as they are. Let’s be frank, whatever IP protection EHR vendors may have in their user interface contribute negligibly to their business moat.

Fortunately, the US Office of the National Coordinator has seen through their smokescreen and pushed through new rules stipulating that these gag clauses are verboten. I’m hopeful that these new rules will catalyze improvements in usability that ultimately improves patient care.