National Electronic Healthcare Records Mandate

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The national Electronic Healthcare Records (EHR) mandate requires an electronic compilation of a person’s medical history. The purpose is to provide healthcare providers accurate, up-to-date information about a patients’ health between facilities. In 2004, laws were enacted to promote the successful implementation of this mandate within ten years. Patient records are stored electronically, which would give other healthcare facilities full access to a wide range of valuable information, previously only available through patient reports or numerous requests. In a perfect world, a patient would stay within only one provider network, and their physician would access all records without delay; however, patients frequently change providers and/or networks without taking thorough records with them. This does not always provide the doctor with a detailed, accurate history; consequently, these omissions may delay treatments. This paper will discuss the national Electronic Healthcare Records (EHR) mandate and the way it will affect a large healthcare facility in the state of Pennsylvania.

In 2004, while President Bush was in office, he implemented an executive order creating the position of National Coordinator for Health Information Technology. This creation was the beginning of a much larger plan to establish EHRs within a 10-year timeframe for the majority of Americans. This action would begin to allow healthcare facilities immediate access to accurate and secure information on each patient without being dependent on the facility (McBride, Delaney, & Tietze, 2012). Examples of electronic records, which will give the provider more accurate information, are allergies, medications, lab results, patient history, and current insur...

... middle of paper ...

... at the bedside” (McBride et al, 2012, p. 38).

References

HealthIT.gov. (2013). What are electronics health records (EHRs)? Retrieved from

http://www.healthit.gov/providers-professionals/learn-ehr-basics

King, J., Patel, V., Jamoom, E., & Furukawa, M. (2013). Clinical benefits of electronic health record use: National findings. Health Services Research, 49(1), 392. doi.org/10.1111/1475-6773.12135

Lowes, R. (2013). Nearly 80% of physician EHR users report clinical benefits. Retrieved from http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/818702

McBride, S., Delaney, J., & Tietze, M. (2012). Health information technology and nursing. American Journal of Nursing, 112(8), 36-42.

Murphy, K. (2013). Stages of meaningful use, EMR adoption: HIMSS analytics Q&A.

Retrieved from http://ehrintelligence.com/2013/01/29/stages-of-meaningful-use-emr-adoption-himss-analytics-qa/

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