Electronic Health Records

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A. What is the issue? An Electronic Health Record is a computerized form of a patient’s medical chart. These records allow information to be readily available to authorized providers during a patient’s encounter with the healthcare system. These systems do not only contain medical histories, current medications and insurance information, they also track patients’ diagnoses, treatment plans, immunization dates, allergies, radiology images and lab tests/results (source). The fundamental aspect of EHRs is that they are able to share a patient’s information quickly across service lines and even between different healthcare organizations. Information is at the fingertips of lab techs, primary care physicians, pharmacies, clinics, etc. The goal of EHR implementation is to drastically decrease the amount of preventable medical errors that occur each year. Hospital medical errors are the third leading cause of death in America. In 2008, 400,000 people died resulting in a loss of $17.1 billion dollars (MacDonald, 2013). Such medical errors include misdiagnosis, unnecessary treatment, medication mistakes, uncoordinated care, infections, missed warning signs and early discharge. According to Leana Wen, M.D., these are the top 10 medical errors that can kill you in a hospital (Wen, 2013). With these staggering statistics, it is hard to believe that America’s healthcare system is among the top when compared to other developed countries. That is because it is not. The US is ranked 46 out of 50 when it comes to countries with the most efficient healthcare and ranked 25 out of 50 for countries with the highest life expectancy (“Most Efficient Health,” 2013). With these low quality outcomes and a push towards EHR adoption, one must ask, will ... ... middle of paper ... ...ian-order-entry-cpoe Summary of the hipaa privacy rule. ((2014, 01 01)2014, 01 01). Retrieved from http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/summary/ Lynn, J. ((2013, 08 05)2013, 08 05). Don’t let a business associate compromise your hipaa compliance. Retrieved from http://www.emrandhipaa.com/tag/hipaa-violations/ Merrill, M. ((2011, 10 24)2011, 10 24). Study finds docs have ‘inadequate’ her training. Retrieved from http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/study-finds-docs-have-inadequate-ehr-training Wen, L. ((2013, 04 26)2013, 04 26). 10 medical errors that can kill you in the hospital. Retrieved from http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-doctor-is- listening/201303/10-medical-errors-can-kill-you-in-the-hospital Medicsdocassistant ehr - ehr software. ((n.d.)). Retrieved from http://ehr- software.findthebest.com/l/7/MedicsDocAssistant-EHR

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