Case Study: Electronic Health Records

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.

Electronic health records can lessen the disintegration of care by refining care coordination. The use of electronic health records will deliver providers with accurate information. This is especially important for those that see multiple specialists, and enable a smooth transition between care settings and receive treatment in emergency

Reducing the incidence of medical error by improving the accuracy and clarity of medical records.

Electronic health records (EHR) are health records that are generated by health care professionals when a patient is seen at a medical facility such as a hospital, mental health clinic, or pharmacy. The EHR contains the same information as paper based medical records like demographics, medical complaints and prescriptions. There are so many more benefits to the EHR than paper based medical records. Accuracy of diagnosis, quality and convenience of patient care, and patient participation are a few examples of the

EHRs give you direct access to your health records – This is my favorite option of the EHR. When I have gone into the doctors office and either lost my paperwork, had test run, schedule an appointment or have a slew of other questions, I can go online and find the answers. I have use the online app for my HMO for checking my test results, researching a particular symptom, scheduling an appointment, reordering a prescription, emailing my physician and many, many other thing and all from the comfort of my

EHR was created to have a technical way to securely exchange private and personal medical health information in hopes to improve the quality of care, decrease medical errors, limiting paper use, reduction of health care cost, and increasing a person access to affordable health care. A mandate was created for EHR stating that health records can be accessible to all facilities with patients having the capability to access their own health records at any time. Ameliorating the quality and convenience of care given to a patient, allow for cost saving measures, engage the patient and family to participate in their care, improve accuracy of medical diagnosis, and enhance the efficiency of the overall outcome of the patients’ health.

Electronic health records is a major component in the United States health care system. It has been proven to improve health care quality by saving time and reducing

Although the general population has concerns about who has the ability to access their medical records, data has been put into place showed that the general population knows that having an EHR would be beneficial (Thede, 2010). Research has suggested that patients, providers and insurance companies have benefited from EHRs because insurance companies do not have to pay for duplicate testing as well as patients and providers having the ability to increase the quality of care that is provider (Thede, 2010). Not to mention, the patients aren’t pained to have to remember every detail of the history when visiting various specialist (Thede, 2010). Moreover, EHR can increase medical staff efficiency and reduce errors, and keeping adverse drug events from happening (Bill to promote electronic health records proposed, 2008).

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 health records (EHRs): Medical records are now kept in an electronic versus a paper chart. All health information regarding past and current medical history, treatment plans, and medications are kept in the EHR. The system also allows sharing of medical information from provider to provider as needed. Many HER systems have a feature to allow patients to log into a patient portal to review lab results, diagnostic tests, plans of care, and email access to the provider

Increased public demand to access health information and growth of consumerism in health care industry are two important reasons form increasing attention to Personal Health Records (PHRs) in the recent years. Surveys show that a considerable number of people want to have access to their health information. In one survey, 60 percent of respondents wanted physicians to provide online access to medical records and test results, and online appointment scheduling; 1 in 4 said they would pay more for the service.

It might seem that the paper file is the way to go, but with some people their opinion is different. The EHR system supply’s caregivers with all of their patient information they need, in a way they can apply it (Thakkar & Dacis, 2006). Some of the benefits to the EHR system are “fewer chart pulls, Improved efficiency of handling telephone messages and medication refills, Improved billing, Reduced transcription costs, Increased formulary compliance and clearer prescriptions leading to fewer pharmacy call backs, and improved coding of visits” (Potential Benefits of an EHR, 2011). The EHR also has benefits for the quality of care with a patient, which includes “easier preventive care, point-of-care decision support, remote access to patient information, easier chronic disease management and integration of evidence-based clinical guidelines” (Potential Benefits of an EHR, 2011). Another way that the EHR

EHRs support provider decision making by allowing providers to make efficient and effective decisions about patient care through; improved aggregation, analysis and communication of patient information, clinical alerts and reminders,

The ability to share patients’ health records with other providers have become the norm with EHRs, while paper-based medical records have become a thing of the past. Not only are paper records a thing of the past, they took up a lot of space and providers had to keep patient’s information on file for at least 6 years due to health care regulations. Furthermore, access to EHRs are unlimited and providers have access to information immediately. No more looking for a chart to add clinical information to it.

Another big plus of the EHRs is that studies have shown that it has helped providers improve accuracy of diagnoses and health outcomes (Couch, 2008). For example, nurses could have reliable access to patients complete health information and have pictures which would help with whatever problem they might encounter. EHR doesn’t just keep patients medications and allergies, it also check for problems whenever a new medication is prescribed and it also alerts the nurse of potential problems (Couch, 2008). EHRs can also tell the nurse if potential safety problems occur, which helps them avoid more serious consequences for patients, which can lead to better outcomes. The EHRs can also help nurses quickly identify and correct operational problems, which compared to the paper-based setting, those kinds of problems would be more difficult to correct. It can also help