Pace of technology adoption depends on perceived benefits in using technology. “Mr. Bush declared that every American should have an electronic medical record within 2014” (Pear, 2007). The goal was to move to EHR systems by year 2014. When President Obama took over he reinforced this goal and announced $20 billion in stimulus money to implement electronic record systems (Marcus & Nussbaum, 2009).According to an article by New England Journal of Medicine, EHR systems are widely adopted in countries like Europe, Australia but it is only fully adopted by 4 % of American physicians (Hoffmann, 2009).
By reviewing literatures in past about EHR systems it is found that there are many benefits in using EHR technology. Many small firms adopted technology and they are using it to improve their patient care. The technology is beneficial to stake holders, patients, physicians, researchers, and hospital administration in many ways (Maharaja, 2010). The new health care laws also paved way for implementation of EHR systems.
With HIPAA regulation of 1996 health care sector should allow patients to see their information (Frost & Sullivan, 2008). Using current paper format HIPAA regulations cannot be highly effective. By moving towards EHR systems patients can make appointments, review their lab test results and check on their patient history. New process also helps them to review medications they were given for disease. Review of medical condition is a mandatory law with HIPAA regulation (Ebadollahi, Coden, Tanenblatt, Chang, Syeda-Mahmood, & Amir, 2006). Along with patients stakeholders can also benefit from new process.
Stake holder need to get a good picture on investments they need to make on health care reforms. The money that needs to be spent is based on return. With a consolidated database it is easy to make decisions on revenue and expenditure. The integrated database can help in clinical decisions, help in doing trend analysis on type of patient care, and suggests ways to improve quality of patient care. Stake holders are also benefited by creating reports, organizing information, and locating clinical workflows. EHR will help them to identify efforts required in making decisions (Mohd & Mohamad, 2005). EHR technology can help hospital administration also.
EHR systems will help health care industry to manage their patient records. These systems will improve patients care. With EHR systems it is easier to store history of records of patients. Hospitals can have history of patient visits, schedule time for patients, review medications, reduce work loads, improve work process, and print prescriptions (Mohd & Mohamad, 2005).
For years now, the healthcare system in the United States have managed patient’s health records through paper charting, this has since changed for the better with the introduction of an electronic medical record (EMR) system. This type of system has helped healthcare providers, hospitals and other ambulatory institutions extract data from a patient’s chart to help expedite clinical diagnosis and providing necessary care. Although this form of technology shows great promise, studies have shown that this system is just a foundation to the next evolution of health technology. The transformation of EMR to electronic heath record system (EHR) is the ultimate goal of the federal government.
Zhang, Yu, and Shen (2012) cited “three categories of benefits as perceived by the care staff members” (p. 690). All the following gained benefits from EHR, e.g., the care staff members, the patients, and the institutions (Zhang et al., 2012). The most cited benefit from the EHR pertains to the “convenience and efficiency in data entry, distribution, storage, and retrieval of the patient’s record” (Zhang et al., 2012, p. 690). In addition, McGonigle and Mastrian (2015) summarized “the four most common benefits… for the EHR are (1) increased delivery of guidelines-based care, (2) enhanced capacity to perform surveillance and monitoring (3) reduction in medication errors, and (4) decreased use of care” (p. 255). The nurses, in particular, perceived an improvement in the quality of patient care, communication, patient safety, and better care outcomes (McGonigle & Mastrian,
“An electronic health record (EHR) is a digital version of a patient’s paper chart. EHRs are real-time, patient-centered records that make information available instantly and securely to authorized users.” (healthit.gov) The EHR mandate was created “to share information with other health care providers and organizations – such as laboratories, specialists, medical imaging facilities, pharmacies, emergency facilities, and school and workplace clinics – so they contain information from all clinicians involved in a patient’s care.” ("Providers & Professionals | HealthIT.gov", n.d., p. 1) The process has proved to be quite challenging for providers. As an incentive, the government began issuing payments to those providers who “meaningfully use certified electronic health record (EHR) technology.” (hhs.gov) There are three stages that providers must progress through in order to receive theses financial incentives. Stage one is the initial stage and is met with the creation and implementation of the HER in the business. Stage two “increases health information exchange between providers.” ("United States Department of Health and Human Services | HHS.gov", n.d., p. 1) Stage three will be the continuation and expansion of the “meaningful use objectives.” ("United States Department of Health and Human Services | HHS.gov", n.d., p. 1) The hospital, where I work, initiated the HER mandate many years ago. In this paper, I will discuss the progression and the challenges that my hospital encountered while implementing the EHR mandate.
The transformation of paper based health record to electronic health record is not an easy step for any providers or organizations but is a major step in the process of providing improved and efficient patient care. Every healthcare organization should have the vision of adopting EHR because it provides numerous benefits not only to providers but also to patient. It is the vision of every healthcare provider to offer the best health care possible. So implementation of EHR is a necessity.
EHRs come with benefits and drawbacks, some of the benefits include faster care, efficiency of communication between other health professionals and saving of space due to digital records. In contrast some drawbacks include loss in productivity, learning curve, and financial issues. All the articles listed below contain further details of the benefits and drawbacks that come with EHRs and how they can be of use in the near future.
EHR was designed to help physicians and not waste their resources. These systems should make data entry efficient and retrieval of data even more so. The sad reality is that it is failing in those areas. But since healthcare organizations, like most organizations often take wrong tech decisions. This results in serious workflow issues because of the clumsy tech.
Tan & Payton (2010) describe the electronic health record (EHR), which dates back to the 1950s. These computer-based patient records have evolved into complex systems with many capabilities. They were designed to provide healthcare professionals with a comprehensive picture of a patient’s health status at any time and are meant to automate and streamline the workflow of the healthcare professional (Tan & Payton,
This paper will identify the use of Electronic Health Records and how nursing plays an important role. Emerging in the early 2000’s, utilizing Electronic Health Records have quickly become a part of normal practice. An EHR could help prevent dangerous medical mistakes, decrease in medical costs, and an overall improvement in medical care. Patients are often taking multiple medications, forget to mention important procedures/diagnoses to providers, and at times fail to follow up with providers. Maintaining an EHR could help tack data, identify patients who are due for preventative screenings and visits, monitor VS, & improve overall quality of care in a practice. Nurse informaticists play an important role in the adaptation, utilization, and functionality of an EHR. The impact the EHR could have on a general population is invaluable; therefore, it needs special attention from a trained professional.
The access to information can be very beneficial in an EHR system. With all the patient medical files being integrated within the EHR, the physician will find it convenient when seeing numerous patients. They will access to these files whenever and wherever they are needed to make effective decisions for the patient. Better access to information also allows better communication amongst the providers.
... goals for e-Health, EHR's and PCEHR’s. They give different visions for the consumer, the provider and health care managers. For the consumer they hope to give them the capability to better manage their own health through dependable and accredited sources of health information, technology enabled access to a broader range of health services from rural and remote communities and to be able to rely on the health system to effectively organize their care and treatment activities. For the provider, they will have a complete view of consumer health information at point of care, they will be able to share information electronically in a timely and secure way, be able to transfer information to different locations and to be able to effective monitor information about patients and having the ease of interacting with patients and other professionals, no matter where they are.
Unfortunately, the quality of health care in America is flawed. Information technology (IT) offers the potential to address the industry’s most pressing dilemmas: care fragmentation, medical errors, and rising costs. The leading example of this is the electronic health record (EHR). An EHR, as explained by HealthIT.gov (n.d.), is a digital version of a patient’s paper chart. It includes, but is not limited to, medical history, diagnoses, medications, and treatment plans. The EHR, then, serves as a resource that aids clinicians in decision-making by providing comprehensive patient information.
The new healthcare technology that is spreading nationwide it the EHR programs that are being implemented and updated in healthcare organizations. Government policies are in place for societies protection and privacy, it also helps to create a place where healthcare information can be utilized to its fullest potential. ONC authors’ regulations that set the standards and certification criteria EHRs must meet to assure health care professionals and hospitals that the systems they adopt are capable of performing certain functions (HealtIt, 2015).
Did you ever think about how much time is spent on computers and the internet? It is estimated that the average adult will spend over five hours per day online or with digital media according to Emarketer.com. This is a significant amount; taking into consideration the internet has not always been this easily accessible. The world that we live in is slowly or quickly however you look at it: becoming technology based and it is shifting the way we live. With each day more and more people use social media, shop online, run businesses, take online classes, play games, the list is endless. The internet serves billions of people daily and it doesn’t stop there. Without technology and the internet, there would be no electronic health record. Therefore, is it important for hospitals and other institutions to adopt the electronic health record (EHR) system? Whichever happens, there are many debates about EHR’s and their purpose, and this paper is going to explain both the benefits and disadvantages of the EHR. Global users of the internet can then decide whether the EHR is beneficial or detrimental to our ever changing healthcare system and technology based living.
The EHR is a computerized health record that will take place of the paper chart. The health care information will be available to all health care providers at anytime, anywhere. The record will contain medical history, diagnosis, medications, immunization, allergies, diagnostics and lab results; from past doctors, emergency department visits, school, pharmacies, and out patient laboratories and facilities (Department of health and human services, 2014). Health care providers will be able to access evidence-based tools to aid in decision-making. EHR will also streamline workflow, and support changes in payer requirements and consumer expectations. In 2004, “the HHS secretary, Tommy Thompson appointed David Brailer as the national health information coordinator to provide: leadership for the development and nationwide implementation of a interoperable HIT infrastructure, with the goal of establishing electronic health records...
Studies have implied that, healthcare professionals who practice clinical features through EHR were far more likely provide better preventive care than were healthcare professionals who did not. (page 116). From 2004, EHR has initiated, even the major priority of President Obama’s agenda is EHR (Madison & Stagger, 2011). Health care administration considers EHR as the introduction of advanced technology which can improve patient satisfaction are can increase the financial incentives of the healthcare organization. Studies have pointed out that the federal policy is proposed to transform all medical records into EHR (Hebda & Calderone, 2010).