The American Society of Health Informatics Managers, Inc. last week announced the release and immediate availability of a cell phone application that allows health IT consultants help physicians select an Electronic Health Record.

“In today’s rapidly expanding sea of EHR products, most health IT experts develop a personal preference, but having familiarity with only one or two EHRs is about as useful to most physicians as a mechanic who only knows one automotive maker,” said Susan Nagel, ASHIM’s national HIT member services director.

The web-enabled application, called EHRBook, searches products by keyword to narrow the EHR selection based on the preferences of the physician. It is designed for use with the Blackberry, Android, Palm Pre and iPhone mobile platforms.

“This puts an entire searchable EHR vendor directory at the consultant’s fingertips, and they can quickly produce an unbiased product list while they are sitting with the physician,” Nagel said.