Essay On Electronic Health Record

Two of these barriers are lack of interoperability (the ability to exchange information) among computer systems and privacy issues. The Markle Foundation fosters collaboration in both private and public sectors through an initiative called Connecting to Health, which seeks to improve patient care by promoting standards for electronic medical information. In addition, the Markle Foundation has provided information and promoted meaningful use and the development of HIEs

The advancement in technology has rapidly transformed the world today, and the increase in the number of web-enabled devices has completely changed peoples ' lives especially the way they communicate. Electronic Health Record system, which is a digital copy of a patient’s medical history is one of the revolutionary ideas that have come with this advancement. Electronic Health Records (EHRs) are instantaneously updating records that are patient-centered designed with the aim of providing real-time information to the authorized users (Cohen, 2010). It contains all the patient’s information that is in the hand of the medical providers including their medical history, treatment dates and types, immunizations conducted to the patient and their dates, radiology images and all the laboratory results from the tests conducted in the past. All this information is held in a digital format and can only be updated by authorized users who are stationed in the medical facilities. Electronic records are designed to make it easy for different health providers and organizations to share patients’ information which streamlines their operations since all the necessary information and history can be accessed from any location at any time.

Clinical integration is the overall purpose of an integrated physician model. Clinical integration provides an opportunity to coordinate services through centralized scheduling, electronic health records, clinical pathways, management of chronic diseases, and innovative quality improvement programs (Harrison, 2016). This needs to be a major factor in the planning process. When you have the capability and access to an patients care plan because of greater resources and having all of the necessary silos to provide such care, well then it becomes a much smoother process and as a result this can play a factor into timely care and quality of care, as well it can contribute to cost reducing factors such as outpatient care. The electronic health records allow each silo to have access to treatments and testing that has already been done, this further improves quality, timely, and costly care. The clinical pathways allow creating a standardized care plan for patients that over time become more effective and efficient. The management of chronic diseases before clinical integration could be very costly and painful, requiring the patient to see multiple facilities and doctors with limited communication between the different facilities. With success in clinical integration these patients can have easy access to their providers and information because it would all be tied together, it can reduce the stress of knowing everything themselves because the information would already be

Interoperability is the way information is shared across an organization. Sharing information across all avenues of health care is imperative to quality patient care. Coordination between all members of the health care team can occur through a congruent system, eliminating unnecessary phone calls and paper work that take away from patient care. The sharing of information electronically reduces the likelihood that files could be lost or stolen which creates a liability for all those involved in the care of the patient.

Another weakness is seen on the limited space for expansion that is in the infrastructure. The current infrastructure can only accommodate 30 employees and even if there is the plan of growth by 20%, the space might not be adequate as growth normally necessitates a lot of space (Gupta & Jayaraman, 2010). This is because, there might be a need for a few offices and the current architecture might not be enough for the expansion and thus could delay the expansion.

Cost estimates should also not be overlooked when final decisions are being made. There would also be consideration for scalability in reference to the new system ability to expand, change or downsize easily to meet the changing need of a business enterprise, if the need arises in the future. Besides all of this it would be important in implementing systems that are volume-rated, such as transaction processing systems that would have more than what it was designed to handle.

Another beneficial feature of EHR systems is that they allow different authorized professionals to access your information from anywhere at any point in time. If a patient checks into the Emergency Room, is moved to Radiology for imaging, then moved to Orthopedics for surgery and finally placed in a bed for recovery, each individual throughout that process will have access to that patient’s medical records without having to communicate with each department. This fosters an

Health Information Exchanges (HIEs) share patient information between health care providers in order to improve the speed, quality, safety, and cost of patient care. By sharing data, physicians improve their decision making, as well as reduce readmissions, avoid medication errors, improve diagnoses, and decrease duplicate testing. Aside from these benefits, the use of electronic data requires healthcare providers to standardize their data. There are three forms of exchanges – the direct exchange, query-based exchange,

What is health interoperability? I think health interoperability is how our technology in the health world is changing today. It is the ability to get to patient’s charts and medication lists easier. It is the way we are constantly growing in the technological world every day and it is constantly changing. It is the way all of the systems we are using to get patient’s charts and medications are communicating with each other. They are communicating with each other in order to get all the correct information right away. Also, if a physician or nurse were needing some information that was not on the system they could contact another system and someone can send them the information they are needing to know. It truly is amazing how these systems

I would like to bring an important matter to your attention that is not only affecting the health of the citizens of Colorado, but is incurring significant cost to the local government and risk to the health care industry in this state. The health care industry in Colorado is experiencing challenging issues with sharing vital health care information between affiliated and unaffiliated medical practice providers. Hokenstrom indicates that “as patients tend to move between specialty providers it is not uncommon that their health information can become lost in transit or forgotten originating facility. This inability to share information frequently results in duplication of efforts and cost to the patient. Not only does this impede efficient and timely care, but carries a high degree of risk to the patient.” In sum, there are solutions to help resolve these issues. Dr. Mendelson, Dr. Bak, Dr. Menschik, and Dr. Siegel have expressed in their research on Imaging Informatics that “barriers to internet transfer of information remain a constant concern, however, surmounting these concerns is not unattainable.” The University of Chicago issued a study of five states who worked together to extend their Health Information Exchange (HIE) program in a collaborative effort to share data between Florida, Indiana, Maryland, Montana, and Oregon. There were several common challenges identified to include: 1) limited understanding of HIE; 2) sustainability of the program; and 3)

Brailer (2005) acknowledges that a sizeable number of citizens receive treatment from multiple providers at a time. Interoperability is a gateway for many business ventures in healthcare to accommodate for patients being admitted in multiple provider organizations. All healthcare professionals, especially managers, must communicate effectively. A good example of interoperability is transformation of electronic medical records, or recruiting physician specialists to operate on a specific procedure (Hellberg & Gronlund, 2013).

Over the past decade, virtually every major industry invested heavily in computerization. Relative to a decade ago, today more Americans buy airline tickets and check in to flights online, purchase goods on the Web, and even earn degrees online in such disciplines as nursing,1 law,2 and business,3 among others. Yet, despite these advances in our society, the majority of patients are given handwritten medication prescriptions, and very few patients are able to email their physician4 or even schedule an appointment to see a provider without speaking to a live receptionist. Electronic health record (EHR) systems have the potential to transform the health care system from a mostly paper-based industry to one that utilizes clinical

We can say it is true the interoperability and health information exchange are similar, it is a common mistake that interoperability means health information exchange (HIE).

In health care, patients’ lives are in the hands of the health care practitioners, health care organizations, insurance companies, and to some degree, even health care technology. The growth and future implications of evidence-based medicine (EBM) through improvement of technology in health care are important today, because health care practitioners and organizations want to ultimately decrease cost, improve quality of care, and increase access to health care (Glandon, Smaltz, & Slovensky, 2014, p. 28). One way to achieve these goals is through the implementation and improvement of EBM and interoperability which will enhance the efficiency of work production resulting in these positive outcomes. According to Glandon, Smaltz, and Slovensky (2014), EBM is an “information management and learning strategy that seeks to integrate clinical expertise with the best evidence available to make effective clinical decisions that will ultimately improve patient care,” (p. 6). “Interoperability is the ability of different information and communications technology systems and software applications to communicate, to exchange data accurately, effectively, and consistently, and to use information that has been exchanged,” (Iroju, Soriyan, Gambo, & Olaleke, 2013, para. 1). Without interoperability and EBM, fundamental data and information such as patient records cannot be easily shared across and within enterprises having a direct impact on the quality of care. It

Likewise, having a health information system that does not have scalability could mean astronomical costs for an organization that want to grow in size. Another disadvantage may be utter confusion by staff, if a hospital is growing and they must learn an entirely new HIS.