Case Study Week VII
Are Electronic Medical Records a Cure for Health Care?
MGT 5014 – Information Systems
Dr. Bourgeois
Summary “The information contained in the medical record allows health care providers to determine the patient's medical history and provide informed care. The medical record serves as the central repository for planning patient care and documenting communication among patient and health care provider and professionals contributing to the patient's care (Medical Records, 2012).” Medical information today is still being kept by using paper medical records. In 2010, 80 percent of doctors and 90 percent of hospitals were still using paper medical records. This is in the United States. With the enormous cost of
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Some physicians are not tech savvy, and may be resistant to change. The hospital staffs will find it difficult to change to a new EMR system because of the long time use of paper record keeping. Training on this new system will be very interesting because of physician and staff resistance to change. Changing people’s mindset will become the biggest challenge for management and organizations. Another hurdle to overcome will be technological. Technical matters, the uncertainty of quality, functionality, ease of use, and lack of integration with other applications (Electronic Medical Records, 2005). Will these technologies be compatible with each other? Incompatibility between systems; user interface, system architecture and functionality can vary significantly between suppliers' products (Electronic Medical Records, 2005). The system will need to be integrated and will require consistent use of standards, for example medical terminologies and high quality data to support information sharing across wide networks. Interoperability is will be the key for an EMR system work. This will support Data transfer and sharing on
In a healthcare world that operates on stringent budgets and margins, we begin to see the need for a higher capacity healthcare delivery system. This in turn puts pressure on the healthcare organizations to ensure higher standards of patient care, and compliance with the reform provisions. However, these are the harsh realities of today’s healthcare environment, a setting in which value does not always equal quality. The use of technology can help to amend some of this by providing higher capacity care without compromising quality; this can be done with the use of such technology as electronic health records (EHRs). This paper will aim to address how EHRs influence healthcare today by expanding upon topics such as funding sources, reimbursement methods, economic factors, socioeconomic factors, business influences, and cost containment.
This case analysis of Stanford’s Hospital and Clinics (SHC) electronic medical record (EMR) system implementation will focus on how the healthcare organization focused on resolving a problem to meet regulatory pressures and responded to an opportunity to create operational efficiency, by capitalizing on the use of information technology to help reduce costs. We will discuss the organization’s IT problems, opportunities, and the alternatives available to address each. We will summarize an analysis of potential alternatives including the organization’s EMR system of choice and conclude with a recommendation to the Board on how to rollout the new system.
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.
“a paperless, digital and computerized system of maintaining patient data, designed to increase the efficiency and reduce documentation errors by streamlining the process.”(Santiago, n.d., para. 1)
The purpose of this paper is to review and summarize the literature on the pros and cons of electronic health record systems. This paper describes the many benefits of electronic health record systems, which include but are not limited to, less paperwork, increased quality of care, financial incentives, and increased efficiency and productivity. Organizational outcomes and societal benefits are also addressed. Despite the tremendous amount of benefits, studies in the literature highlight potential disadvantages of electronic health record systems. These disadvantages include privacy and security concerns, identity theft, data loss, financial issues, and changes in workflow, involving a temporary loss of productivity. Preventative measures that can be taken are addressed as well. Overall, people believe that the benefits of electronic health records can be realized when they are used correctly, and proper measures are taken to reduce any potential drawbacks.
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
Electronic medical records can benefit patients in many ways. One major way it can benefit a patient is the efficiency of the records being organized and easy for any practitioner or staff member to read. EMR can lower the risks of
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 (EMR) is a computerized database that stores all of the personal and medical information of the patient’s care and billing information by the health care providers. Today, only the providers and medical practices can implement these systems. Also there are neither known national central storage systems nor regional sharing of information between the networks on a regional level or the national level. This is something that needs to be changed because it is important to be able to see this information globally. This
Electronic medical records (EMR) software is a rapidly changing and often misunderstood technology with the potential to cause great change within the medical field. Unfortunately, many healthcare providers fail to understand the complex functions of EMRs, and they rather choose to use them as a mere alternative to paper records. EMRs, however, have many functionalities and uses that could help to improve the patient-physician relationship and the overall quality of patient care. In order for this potential to be realized, both the patient and the healthcare provider must have a deeper understanding of EMR purpose and function. In this paper will highlights the historical developments and its potential effects on the patient physician relationship in order to
For a medium-sized urban hospital with 160 beds and 1,500 associates to be able to gain the trust and confidence of patients and compete with mega-hospitals in the healthcare industry, the management of the hospital would have to explore new technologies that would enhance the quality of services and patient care rendered to customers. Further, to ensure that all the departments in the hospitals such as ICUs, mother & baby, emergency services, radiology, oncology, surgery, and operating room (OR) would have to function efficiently and improve the patient experience. New EMR application would improve the security of patient’s information and ensure timely retrieval of medical records such that the quality of diagnosis would be enhanced significantly. As the IT director, it is my responsibility to make sure that the hospital system has a robust IT network that would enable efficient information flow within
Health care organizations that choose to convert to an electronic medical record system (EMR) have several advantages; most important it increases patient safety, efficiency, cost-effectiveness and security. Accepting such a transition also presents with its share of challenges like preparing for the required significant time obligation and resources that will make the transition a successful one. Leadership and management must create an atmosphere that will get the buy-in of all stakeholders. Providing information about the process and what methods will be best to make the conversion to an EMR system is an important aspect of the implementation
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.
Patton-Fuller Community Hospital is a nonprofit Healthcare organization in the city of Kelsey that has provided quality