Benefits And Barriers Of Electronic Health Records

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Benefits and Barriers of Electronic Health Records
“There are two concepts in electronic patient records that are used interchangeably but are different-the electronic medical record (EMR/EHR) and the electronic health record. The National Alliance for Health Information Technology (NAHIT) defines the EHR as the electronic record of health-related information on an individual that is accumulated from one health system and is utilized by the health organization that is providing patient care while the EMR accumulates more patient medical information from many health organizations that have been involved in the patient care. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has been urging the healthcare industry to adopt the electronic patient record but initially …show more content…

It enables healthcare organizations to monitor patient safely and care. According to IOM essential elements for an EHR are: the collection of longitudinal data on a person’s health, immediate electronic access to this information, establishment of a system that provides decision support to ensure the quality, safety, and efficiency of patient care. The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, until 2015, offers incentives for physicians and other healthcare professions to adopt health IT. After that, the apt spells out penalties for noncompliance of health IT. The Office of Nation Coordinator (ONC) for Health Information Technology (HIT) is responsible for implementing the incentives and penalties program. The ONC has been working to create ‘meaningful use’ guidelines for physicians and others that will help them receive incentive payments and avoid penalties in the future” (Niles, 2015, page 261).
Three benefits of EHR is improved patient care, improved interdepartmental …show more content…

The company would need to purchase software, hardware, networks, upgrades, training, and computer personnel. “The average cost of installation for a practice is $50,000” (Niles, 2015, page 262). Going from a hard copy system to an electronic system requires several components, including a physician order communications/results retrieval, electronic document/control management, point of care charting, electronic physician order entry and prescribing, clinical decision support system, provider patient portals, personal health records, and population health (Niles, 2015, page 262). Converting to an electronic system affects the workflow because it changes the process for the professional. The training and learning of the system takes time to learn and to completely understand and is not as easy as just writing it down on paper. “Training is required for both healthcare professionals and staff to fully utilize the system” (Niles, 2015, page

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