Case Study On E-Health Services

E-health combines technology with health care. The use of this new and emerging technology allows the delivery of health care to take the form of e-visits, online patient charting, patient access to personal medical records and remote monitoring of vital health monitoring. The use of e-health in health care system with the support of federal guidelines and regulations will help improve the quality, efficiency, and access to

The purpose of this paper is to discuss how technology has impacted the health care delivery system. Health care technology is advancing at an increasingly rapid rate in the United States, and globally. Patients and providers are witnessing these changes through the use of telehealth, and telemedicine applications. Telehealth, and telemedicine are often used interchangeably, however there is a difference between the two applications. Telehealth is the use of technology to deliver health care, health information, or health education at a distance (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, n.d.).

It's easy to see how patients can benefit from e-Health. Every visit to a healthcare professional, or a hospital or other medical facility, may result in important information about their health being created and stored at that specific location. E-Health will allow this information to be much more easily shared between the health care providers involved in their care.

eHealth is an application of information and communication technologies which can help manage and improve healthcare. According to McClure, “The global impact of e-Health is being manifested in the reduction of healthcare costs and improved efficiency through better retention and retrieval of records, better management of chronic diseases, shared health professional staffing, reduced travel times and fewer or shorter hospital stays” (as cited in Isabalija, Mayoka, Rwashana, & Mbarika, 2011). One of the most important factors that influences eHealth adoption amongst the healthcare organizations and providers is the financial incentives provided by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act. The HITECH Act of 2009 was signed into law to promote widespread use of electronic medical records (EMRs) and supporting technologies. As per the provision in the HITECH Act, the healthcare providers who adopt EMR system and manifests the “meaningful use” (MU) criteria by 2015 will receive incentives under

Implementing Health Information System (HIS) in health care is viewed as an effective strategy to deliver safe and integrated patient care. After the introduction of incentive payments to meaningful use of Electronic Health Record (EHR) many health care organizations are actively undergoing the process of HIS implementation or its update to deliver quality care (Boswell, 2011). It is crucial to analyze the factors that will lead to successful implementation of HIS thereby the organizations not only save money but also choose to adopt the technology that is appropriate.

The study focused on issues with the Information Communication Technology infrastructure and knowledge of the participants in the study. According to the article, the results of the study revealed that the ICT infrastructure in place was inadequate for e-health implementations due to other pre-existing challenges (Ouma & Herselman 2008). Some of the previous challenges included, lack of computer equipment, lack of computer skills, internet connection, out-dated and unreliable equipment, lack of broadband connection, fear of computers and many more. An overall conclusion of the study revealed that previous mentioned challenges should be addressed in the case of rural hospitals. The plan to meet the challenges was to enforce extensive training for management to educate organizations about e-health implementation.

Throughout history, technology has played a large role in health care and the quality of care given to the patients. In fact, in 1878 The Lancet reported the use of the telephone between patient and physicians to reduce the amount of unnecessary in-home visits (Dinesen, Nonnecke, Lindeman, Toft, Kidholm, Jethwani, & Nesbit, 2016). Recently, a new form of healthcare has emerged called telehealth. This has been promoted as a technological approach to support and assist in diagnosis, monitoring management, and the treatment of patients by using telecommunication (Kayyali, Hesso, Ejiko, Gebra, 2017). As with all technology there are advantages and disadvantages. This paper will describe the advantages and disadvantages of telehealth as a form of healthcare.

E-Health or electronic health applications are another important element of Health care management. Just like the name, E-health main features focuses on providing health care data electronically. E-Health applications are composed of topics like EMR and telemedicine. The capability of E-Health is broad, as it entails a variety of paperless efforts. The most important function of E-Health within a health care organization is that it provides health care professionals with consumer, medical, clinical bio-informatics.

The resource interviewed is a stockholder from E-Health Partners. Motivated to implement the new healthcare technology, this group of physicians and executives within the health care world, acquired the electronic health record platform developed by the Quality Improvement Professional Research Organization (QIPRO) in 2009. Perhaps, E Health Partners (EHRez) is the fastest growing healthcare technology company in Puerto Rico, providing complete electronic health record solutions for providers. Actually, the IT department provides continuous customer support that includes service, backup, upgrades, configuration, and training, on site and remotely.

Discuss the current and possible future use e-health records and systems etc designed for electronic referrals between healthcare providers

It is important to understand that patients are very satisfied with electronic health systems. For example, patients see a vast improvement in the speed at which they are being seen when they go their doctors’ office. Patients no longer have to wait on their physicians for hours due to the fact that their information can be readily available to their physicians when they come to see them. Moreover, all their information is transparent to their health care provider since all their data is in electronic form.

Information technology has long been a part of just about every industry, and this includes health care. It is even becoming more digital with patient portals that let patients easily access their medical information through websites. Test results, prescriptions, and other medical data are more readily available, and communicating with doctors is made more convenient. Some portals even allow patients to schedule appointments, fill out forms, and pay bills.

Health informatics and telemedicine are not new in the world of health profession. It has long been playing a major role in the delivery of health care to patients and consumers especially in rural and remote areas. Health Informatics is the appropriate and innovative application of the concepts and technologies of the information age to improve health care and health. (Wang, Turner 2011). Telemedicine can widely be defined as a health care service delivered through telecommunications network. The idea of using telecommunication for patient care is probably as obsolete as the telephone. However, it includes the transmission of still images, video, and other forms of medical data (Pradhan 2011). It was further expounded by Imhof in their ESCISM statement (2014), it is the development and assessment of methods and systems for the acquisition, processing and interpretation of patient data with the help of knowledge from scientific research.. Moreover, it is not only the application of computer technology to problems in healthcare but covers all aspects of the generation, handling, communication, storage, retrieval, management, analysis, discovery and synthesis of data, information and knowledge in the entire scope of healthcare. Advances in Health informatics and

E-health can be viewed as an investment in technological advances like ICT in healthcare to secure patient benefits over costs. The complexity of this requires that e-health decisions and opportunities be distinguished priorities established, and achievable plans advanced for constraints such as affordability and time to be matched. This includes embracing effective strategies characterized by rigorous and comprehensive information standards guaranteeing enduring sustainability. Effective e-health requires leaders to have appropriate groups set up and to identify clinical, executive, and political leaders who can construct suitable chances and power these within a suitable legislation structure (Ginter, Duncan & Swayne, 2013).

3- e-Benefits: One of the primary drivers of the e-benefits is the possibility of self-service tools through which employees can customized their own insurance plans and have ready access to them. Once the insurance information is made easily available to employees, they become more responsible about their benefits. Drawbacks of e-Health - The tension between access and quality assurance. - Lack of physicality - Depersonalization - Multipoint entry into the delivery system makes continuity difficult to achieve - Privacy concerns Benefits of e-Health - Highly efficient national medical markets - Around the clock service - Seamless integration of products and services - The ability to heavily personalize computer-mediated relationships