Acquisition Support: A Case Analysis

SHC mission was to care, to educate, and to discover for the benefit of patients and larger community. Multiple problems and opportunities were present within the organization’s IT infrastructure that needed to be resolved before implementing an EMR system. The case stated, “In the early 2000s, SHC was in no shape to support an EMR system comparable to other healthcare groups” (Denend & Zenios, 2010). They needed to fix their existing IT infrastructure in order to resolve network, security, and regulatory compliance (HIPPA) issues. After addressing these concerns, they could focus on a solution for an EMR system. The strategic motivation behind implementing an EMR system was to reduce cost, meet competitive (internal and external) pressures, improve

Amatayakul, M. K. (2009, January 01). Electronic Health Records: A practical Guide for Professionals and Organizations. VitalSource Bookshelf(4). Chicago, Illinois, USA: AHIMA Press. Retrieved August 2012, from <http://online.vitalsource.com/books

Hence, EHR 's are inherently complex amalgamations of diverse subsystems targeted toward varied users. The stakeholders are the users and must have a role in implementing any IT or EHR system into its work flow. An EHR can be customized to accommodate any environment depending on the level of expertise of the vendor and how long they have been in the business of creating an optimum system that 's customized to fit the organizations needs. For the most part, EHR 's must be designed for efficient, error free use. Ideally, an EHR is a system that encompass all the subsystems that make a hospital meet "meaningful use" criteria to acquire incentives for adopting EHR into practice. In the next five years, EHR adoption will no longer be a luxury, it will be a "MUST". EHR 's and other health information technology will be a necessity to practice medicine (econsultant.com, 2010). Rather than purchase several standalone systems, it would behoove one , in my opinion , to purchase an EHR that would satisfy all the needs of the stakeholders, the physician , nurses and other hospital staff and all parties involved in the tertiary practice too. Although LWMS 's budget is not large enough to accommodate the full cost of implementing an EHR,

Making the switch to an electronic medical records system will help to bring forth health care advances with the systems data quality and availability. This research study uses focus groups and surveys to get the opinions of different health care providers and some patients on what they think EMR will do for the health care industry. Literature related to EMR was reviewed to get a better understanding of the benefits and barriers of electronic medical records. The study uses data from

Containing ninety participants, 36% of the respondents were hospital CIOs and I.T. executives, 19% from integrated delivery systems headquarters, 19% from group practices, and 27% from other facilities. Survey results pertained to patient health records, electronic health record (EHR) certification, and other IT issues in healthcare. According to the survey, “81% of respondents said their I.T. budgets will grow, with the most common prediction being growth of 5% to 10%. Implementing electronic health records was the No. 1 software investment priority for the coming year for hospitals, integrated delivery systems and group practices alike.” (CIOs Predict Future Trends, n.d) Interestingly, despite the economy at the time showing signs of a recession, “the vast majority of health care organizations expect their information technology budgets to grow during the next fiscal year, and this growth is driven primarily by a need to improve access to information for clinicians, the survey shows.” (CIOs Predict Future Trends, n.d) This improved access to information can be applied to patients as well, as the push towards cloud storage and record/test results access alleviates the need to wait, call, and require record searches from the physician’s staff. On the subject of streamlining access to the implementation to patient EHRs, 19% of

The expense of implementing an electronic medical record (EMR) will be one of the most costly expenses a healthcare organization will encounter regardless of the size of the organization. The organization will face many ethical and legal challenges with the implementation of EMR and depending on the size of the organization may experience many organizational issues as well. The Affordable Care Act is pushing for national EMR implementation. In order to accomplish goal, it will be necessary to work through the many ethical, legal, and organizational challenges healthcare systems will face implementing EMR.

A significant, impactful trend on healthcare organizations (HCOs) is the implementation of technology-based information systems (IS). The systems consist of hardware and software used in gathering and processing data that supports the provision of patient care. There are administrative systems, which have been in place for decades and their usefulness are highly recognized. They track services rendered, billing processes used for third party payers and patients, as well as payroll for employees. Administrative systems are essential for the financial component of a business. More recently, the importance of clinical information systems has moved into the spotlight. They are intended to

There is improvement in financial, administrative and management information, decrease in the duplication of the records, decrease in the repetitive lab tests, and reduction in the cost associated with hospital stays. A lot of money is saved by electronically storing and managing volumes of information [1]. ITAA believes that an industry-wide investment in IT of $18.1 billion would yield gross savings of greater than $120 billion dollars for the health care industry over a six-year period. [2] Many billing errors, coding inaccuracy have been reduced and as a result of this, there is enhancement in revenue.

Currently, the healthcare industry only spends 2% of gross revenues on health information technology, while the banking industry spends upwards of 10%. However, the Veterans Healthcare System is one of the largest integrated systems in the world. One hundred fifty-five hospitals and eight hundred clinics rely on one electronic health system (Gupta & Murtaza, 2009). Implementing information systems in hospitals is more challenging than elsewhere because of the complexity of medical data, data entry problems, security and confidentiality concerns and a general lack of awareness of the benefits of Information Technology (Boonstra et al., 2014). The newly implemented system must be reliable from the onset as patient care does not cease in the meantime. Technology has the potential to streamline current practices and reduce costs, however, hospitals must consider the potential risks and consequences of a poorly implemented project and agree that failure is not an option. Good project planning and management can assure success of Electronic Health Record

Adoption of EMR systems is significant for the delivery of consistent, high-quality and efficient healthcare. Research shows that EMR adoption rates vary by practice size. Physicians working in small practices are less likely to have EMR systems than those working in larger practices. In 2012, Ramaiah, Subrahmanian, Sriram, and Lide enunciated, “less than 11.3% of the small practices have fully implemented EMR systems.” I believe EMR adoption challenges are faced by both small medical practices and large healthcare systems but in a different way. Small medical practices face barriers primarily because of the lack of access to capital, lower ability to handle the productivity challenges created due to new EMR adoption (e.g. available EMR software does not meet the practice’s needs), lesser ability to choose a vendor and concerns about future obsolescence. Also, small practices may face some EMR quality issues. For example, the vendors may target larger practices and thus, sell lower quality EMR systems to small practice providers. Another key issue for small practices is the integration of EMR systems with practice management systems (Rao et al., 2011). On the contrary, large-scale healthcare systems are more concerned about the loss of productivity during the transition to EMRs, disruption in the physician’s workflow, security and privacy issues, safety and usability challenges, etc. In order to overcome the

Besides the disadvantages of (EMR)’s the advantages pose great benefits to patient care and efficiency. The greater use of electronic medical records or health records can reduce wait times, of seeing doctors or waiting for test results. All staff would need to cohesively work out the technical challenges and software data. With sophisticated IT

Electronic medical records have the potential to transform and develop healthcare in a multiplicity of ways over the coming years. According to Net Health, there are three different ways that specialized EMRs are transforming the world of healthcare today. The first way is the fact that the more accessible data exists in the healthcare industry, the easier it is to make a diagnosis (NetHealth). These diagnoses are not being used in just one setting, however, but in a conglomeration of medical care settings. These include clinics and treatments which are improving the quality of life for breast cancer patients, diabetes patients, chlamydia patients and even colorectal cancer patients (Kern). Electronic records are creating a huge and accessible database to reach information more quickly and more efficiently. As physicians and practices,

Integrating electronic medical records (EMR) with a healthcare management information system (HMIS) is a significant benefit to any organization. Pay-for-performance is the future of the healthcare market and stimulates changes in practices. Financial and human resources costs are also very high (Rand, 2009). There are also challenges when implementing an EMR which will be discussed as well.

This case study is based on the integration of electronic medical records known as EMR. The integration process came from Dryden, New York and was tested by a small medical practice named Dryden Family Medicine. The practice has been known for its outstanding family based services given to their community. The implementation process of EMRs doesn’t come without risks, but with its outstanding paper based medical record keeping that continued to expand as the practice grew left the Dryden Family practice no other choice but to try out something new in hopes for a better outcome.

Changes are occurring constantly in the health care environment, which impact the overall operations of the industry. Technology is constantly advancing, which forces businesses to adapt to today's information-age economy. "It is the information age – a time when knowledge is power. Today, more than ever, businesses are using information and technology to gain and sustain a competitive advantage" (Haag, Cummings, and McCubbrey, 2005, p.4). In order to compete in this rapidly changing industry, businesses must understand the environment and recognize that technology is the force behind the change. This paper will discuss the best practices used in the health care industry related to electronic