Technology has affected almost every facet of our lives. Thanks to the internet, which has reformed our lives in a great way, shaping our personal lives as much as our working world and leisure time. It enables us to perform tasks cheaply and effectively that required great amount of time and were quite expensive to perform in the past. The world of healthcare is no exception, where IT is facilitating to shape the mode in which the diseases are diagnosed, and care to the patients is delivered. The e-Health facilities we are having in access today, started their revolutionary journey almost 40 years ago with the vision to provide best medical care and treatment to the patients by providing advanced treatment procedures and options to the health care practitioners . According to Ciampa and Revels, Healthcare Information Technology (HIT) is the use of hardware and software in an effort to manage and manipulate health data and information . Though Healthcare Information Technology is similar to that being used in other industries yet many of its features still stand out due to elements of uniqueness. For instance healthcare providers are required to strictly follow governmental and accreditation rules - an element missing in other industry types . IT has a great potential to improve the safety, efficiency and quality of healthcare and the biggest proof of this success is the fact what Spekowius and Wendler have mentioned that "Many countries in the world are currently engaged in a national approach for HIT and the EHR ". Despite promising quality and efficiency gains in healthcare, IT here is facing barriers of high cost and complexity of implementation. However, the IT development will have profound impact on how well these cha... ... middle of paper ... ... near future. At International level, both the public and private sectors must engage in efforts to promote the utilization of new technological changes in healthcare to further improve and make it effectual. Works Cited Spekowius, G. and Wendler, T., Advances in Healthcare Technology: Shaping the Future of Medical Care, Dordrecht, Springer, 2006, pp 349. Ciampa, M. and Revels, M., Introduction to Healthcare Information Technology, MA, Cengage Learning, 2012. Ibid, p.3 Spekowius, G. and Wendler, T., Advances in Healthcare Technology: Shaping the Future of Medical Care, Dordrecht, Springer, 2006, pp 372. Scott, T., Implementing an Electronic Medical Record System: Successes, Failures, Lessons, Oxon, Radcliffe Publishing, 2007. Harman, L. B., Ethical Challenges in the Management of Health Information, MA, Jones & Bartlett Learning, 2006, pp 61.
The federal government has taken a stance to standardized care by creating incentive programs that are mandated under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) of 2009. This act encourages healthcare providers and healthcare institutions to adopt Meaningful use in order to receive incentives from Medicare and Medicaid. Meaningful use is the adoption of a certified health record system that acquires or obtains specified objectives about a patient. The objectives or measures are considered gold standard practices with the EHR system. Examples of the measures include data entry of vital signs, demographics, allergies, entering medical orders, providing patients with electronic copies of their records, and many more pertinent information regarding the patient (Friedman et al, 2013, p.1560).
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 Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) was put into place as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and was signed and made a part of law in February 2009. It sponsors the adoption and meaningful use of health information technology. (www.healthcareitnews.com). There was $22 billion and of this $19.2 billion was supposed to be used as a method to increase the use or the Electronic Health Records by the doctors and healthcare facilities. (www.hitechanswers.net).
Melanie Merrifield’s article “Health Technology” seeks to understand the kind of innovations technology has brought to healthcare and how they have helped the health field. Merrifield provides numerous examples of how the innovations being made in health technology have improved patient care. There are examples used, from both the military as well as civilian innovations in technology that is included with Merrifield’s article. The examples in the article include patients being able to leave in three days instead of three months because of minimal invasive surgery; this is one example of how the advances in health technology have helped patients (Merrifield, 2006)
Though the benefits of IT are numerous, successful adoption into healthcare has been difficult. The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (2004) states, “barriers include the cost and complexity of IT implementation, which necessitates significant work process and cultural changes” (p. 158). These challenges, sadly, have resulted in a series of ineffective systems.
Kimmel, K. C., & Sensmeier, J. (2002). A Technological Approach to Enhancing Patient Safety. Retrieved from https://blackboard.ohio.edu/bbcswebdav/pid-3906938-dt-content-rid-20290664_1/courses/NRSE_4510_1021_SEM_SPRG_2013-14/EHR_1%281%29.pdf
Administrative Mandates, including the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, ICD-10 and HIPAA 5010, are all part of administrative simplification and the need for systems optimiza...
The Creative Destruction of Medicine is a book written by Eric Topol, who is a M.D. He is one of the most top citied researchers in medicine and was named Modern Healthcare’s #1 Most Influential Physician Executive in Healthcare in 2012 (Topol, 2012). This book explains how the future of medicine will change dramatically from what it what was then and how it is now. The book is split into three different parts. Part I is “Setting the Foundation” where it explains where the technology began and how it has changed in the modern day. Part II is “Capturing the Data” explains the different ways that modern day technology can show what is wrong with a patient easier and more convenient than ever before. Part III is “The Impact of Homo Digitus” here
of medical devices are used by millions of health care providers around the world.” (Powell-
Leveson, Nancy G. “Medical Devices: the Therac-25.” Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 19 April 2014. http://sunnyday.mit.edu/papers/therac.pdf
In conclusion use of new technology has immense effect on the U.S health care system delivery. It enables services at primary prevention level, advanced secondary treatment strategies and qualitative tertiary rehabilitation services. These technologies support successful implementation of
Health information management involves the practice of maintaining and taking care of health records in hospitals, health insurance companies and other health institutions, by the use of electronic means (McWay 176). Storage of medical information is carried out by health information management and HIT professionals using information systems that suit the needs of these institutions. This paper answers four major questions concerning health information systems.
The term informatics describes using technology to obtain, control, and apply information when making economical decisions. Health care informatics is an application of computers and computer technology to assist the gathering of electronic health records, data sharing, communications, and coding to improve the quality and safety of patient care. The definition of health informatics is dynamic because the field is rapidly changing but healthcare informatics is more than just collecting data it is a device that can formalized methods to manage information for problem solving and decision making.
Topol, Eric. "How Technology Is Transforming Health Care." US News. U.S.News & World Report, 12 July 2013. Web. 15 Feb. 2014.
Thomas, Lewis. “The Technology of Medicine”. The McGraw Hill Reader. 8th ed. Ed. Gilbert H. Muller. New York: McGraw Hill, 2003. 581-585.