How Technology Has Changed Healthcare

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The health industry has existed ever since doctors bartered for chickens to pay for their services. Computers on the other hand, in their modern form have only existed since the 1940s. So when did technology become a part of health care? The first electronic health record(EHR) programs were created in the 1960s around the same time the Kennedy administration started exploring the validity of such products (Neal, 2013). Between the 1960s and the current administration, there were little to no advancements in the area of EHR despite monumental advancements in software and hardware that are available. While some technology more directly related to care, such as digital radiology, have made strides medical record programs and practice management programs have gained little traction. Physicians have not had a reason or need for complicated, expensive health record suites. This all changed with the introduction of the Meaningful Use program introduced in 2011. Meaningful use is designed to encourage and eventually force the usage of EHR programs. In addition, it mandates basic requirements for EHR software manufactures that which have become fragmented in function and form. The result was in 2001 18 percent of offices used EHR as of 2013 78 percent are using EHR (Chun-Ju Hsiao, 2014). Now that you are caught up on some of the technology in health care let us discuss some major topics that have come up due to recent changes. First, what antiquated technologies is health care are still using, what new tech are they exploring, and then what security problems are we opening up and what is this all costing. Some antiquated tech includes fax machines, paper(yes still), and pagers which until I entered health care did not know you cou... ... middle of paper ... ...uys out. In conclusion, a warning, technology is there to guide and help a physician it is not, nor has it ever been intended to replace the physician patient relationship. Works Cited Chun-Ju Hsiao, P. a. (2014, January 17). Use and Characteristics of Electronic Health Record Systems Among Office-based Physician Practices: United States, 2001–2013. Retrieved April 24, 2014, from CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/databriefs/db143.htm Neal, H. (2013, January 10). History of Electronic Health Records (EHR). Retrieved April 24, 2014, from Software Advice: http://blog.softwareadvice.com/articles/medical/ehr-timeline-113/ Perna, G. (2013, May 7). Study: Pagers, Outdated Communication Tech Costing Hospitals. Retrieved April 24, 2014, from Healthcare Informatics: http://www.healthcare-informatics.com/news-item/study-pagers-outdated-communication-tech-costing-hospitals

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