The American Medical Association highlights several simple adjustments practices can make to their electronic health record (EHR) systems that may significantly reduce administrative burden and physician burnout. The recommendations come from the AMA’s STEPS Forward® de-implementation checklist, which focuses on eliminating low-value tasks that do not improve patient care.
Key suggested improvements include:
- Reducing unnecessary inbox notifications, such as duplicate test results or alerts for tests the physician did not order.
- Minimizing alerts to keep only those that provide meaningful clinical value.
- Simplifying logins through tools like single sign-on or biometric authentication.
- Extending auto-logout time when appropriate to prevent repeated logins during patient visits.
- Reducing password-related tasks, such as frequent resets or repeated verification.
- Limiting excessive clicks or hard stops when ordering tests or services.
- Addressing “note bloat” by removing unnecessary data pulled into visit notes.
- Streamlining order entry by auto-populating fields with information already in the EHR.
According to the AMA, even small workflow changes can free up significant time—allowing physicians to spend more time with patients and less time navigating administrative tasks.
Resource: 8 changes to make to your EHR that can save hours every day