EHR Errors

Health providers across America are using Electronic Health Records systems to keep up with patient’s health information. Long hours of filing and writing patients health information manually has become a thing of the past. The Electronic Health Record system, known as EHRs, has changed how patients and health providers communicate as a whole. It has taken information technology to a different spectrum, and has helped patients become more aware of their health history and health conditions. Throughout the years, EHRs systems have been crucially ridicule in the medical world, due to lack of knowledge, high expenses, and apprehension among health providers. Because there will always be challenges when new technology starts to expand in any type of establishment. I believe that EHRs serves a great purpose in health care despite its delays.

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

After decades of paper based medical records, a new type of record keeping has surfaced - the Electronic Health Record (EHR). EHR is an electronic or digital format concept of an individual’s past and present medical history. It is the principle storage place for data and information about the health care services provided to an individual patient. It is maintained by a provider over time and capable of being shared across different healthcare settings by network-connected information systems. Such records may include key administrative and clinical data relevant to that persons care under a particular provider. Examples of such records may include: demographics, physician notes, problems or injuries, medications and allergies, vital

Quality is something that many medical care institutions have advocated for. With the innovation of Electronic Health Records, healthcare facilities as well as institutions were consumed with the concerns of how medical records were being handled. Currently there are many national organizations as well as some of the government agencies who are trying to pursue the cause of quality and patient safety (GAO, 2010). Although, Electronic Health Records are presumed to bring quality to the way healthcare data is being handled,

Use of EHR (electronic health records) in United States has increased in past years and have gained widespread use in the country. The use of EHR-Electronic Health Records or EMR-Electronic Medical Records and the systems that support them have gained standardized collection of health information and data for patient and healthcare providers. Because of these technologies, healthcare providers now have information about their patients at their fingertips, which has led to better and more accurate care. There are debates on using EHR. According to Mushtaq (2015), one of the most common debate is the use of EHR compliance and the value of these technologies that surround them (Mushtaq, 2015). Providers wonder if EHR use is useful and what is to be gained for the HCP-Healthcare provider. In regards to such debates and ongoing conversations, it is important to understand the definition of meaningful use and whether these technologies have resulted in meaningful use. According to Burchell (2016), The government developed the HITECH (Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health) Act of 2009, which incorporates the meaningful use program (Burchell, 2016). The program has goals that tell us how to use the meaningful use with EMR or EHR. It helps HCP and organizations alike attain, use and keep goals like patient and clinical outcomes, individual patient autonomy, and increased transparency for providers. When these goals are attained and kept it will greatly

Technology has come a long way over the years and continues to advance rapidly. The health care system is greatly affected by the advancements in technology. An example of this would be the use of electronic health records (EHR). In this paper I will be describing the electronic health record system. How my facility has initiated the EHR with following the six steps and describe meaningful use and how my facility is working towards this. Lastly I will discuss how to maintain patient confidentiality with use of EHR, and what my facility is doing to prevent HIPPA violations.

There’s no denying that EHR has advanced the quality of healthcare by improving the way information is accessed and exchanged. But despite these advancements, errors, which were simply not tolerated in paper records, are numerous in EHRs. Because of this, electronic documentation tools have been developed in an effort to increase the quality of clinical documentation, enhance communication between healthcare providers, and improve delivery of care.

Therefore, several authors share some of the same ideas as to what some of the barriers faced during the transition to Electronic Health Records (EHRs) and if these barriers still exist once the transition to a full EHR system is complete. Herrick, et al., 2010, states that currently, there is no hard-core evidence to support the argument that Electronic Health Record (EHRs) and Health Information Technology is the best route for health organizations to prevent errors. In fact, the use of such technology could potentially lead to errors if information incorrectly entered in the system and Haupt, 2011, statement that smart software could help to prevent life-threatening errors better when administering medicines. Whereas, Boonstra & Broekhuis, 2010, states from a physician point a view need the understanding of the possible barriers that faced during implementation of EHRs because there a tremendous amount of literature on the obstacles but no suggestion on how to resolve these barriers have not been viewed. Barriers such as, financial on great startup and ongoing cost, technical and time to train staff and how much knowledge do they have with computer skills and psychological when support needed from vendors, etc. It suggests that once those barriers have been ironed out and a plan has set in place, then the transition from paper documentation to Electronic Health Records (EHRs) may go a lot easier for the healthcare arena physician, nurses and administrative

According to The Healthcare Information and Management Systems EHR is considered a longitudinal electronic record of patient health information generated by one or more encounters in any care delivery setting( Kohli & Tan, 2016). The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) describes EHR as an electronic version of a patient’s medical history, that is maintained by the provider over time, and may include all of the key administrative clinical data relevant to that person’s care under a particular provider, including demographics, progress notes, problems, medications, vital signs, past medical history, immunizations, laboratory data and radiology reports (CMS.gov). The International

Electronic Health Records (EHR) are changing the way health care is delivered to patients, not just how patient medical information is stored. In the recent past, patient-doctor visits consisted of handwritten multiple medical forms to be completed, and most times duplicated. There were several areas of concern with past patient record keeping, omission of important care information, medical interventions and prescribed medication were missed in certain cases, erroneously prescribed or duplicated and records were lost or misplaced. EHR facilities and improves the quality of care by refining access to patient record by multiple health care providers and the patient; better decision support; reporting occurs in real time and is legible which

Electronic Health Records (EHRs) is another version of a patient’s medical history, that is maintained by the healthcare facilities or provider over time, and may include all of the key administrative clinical data relevant to that persons care under particular healthcare facilities, including demographics, progress notes, medication, x-rays, surgical history, and etc.(CMS,2012). While the adoption of the electronic health record system seems promising for the healthcare community and having a positive impact on the HIM field with better care and decreased in healthcare cost, and other promising aspects. However, poor EHR system design and improper use can cause EHR-related errors put at risk to honesty of the information in the EHR; causing or leading healthcare facilities and hospital to break that confidential bond they have with the patient. This will cause EHRS to have errors that endanger patient safety or decrease the quality of care that the patients expect from the hospital or healthcare facility (Bowman, 2013). In the paper I will discussed the topics along the lines like managing the Transition from Paper to EHRs, EHRs to redefine the role of doctors, and other ways how EHRs impact will have on the HIM community.

Many if not all healthcare systems are transferring paper-based record systems to electronic systems (Rezaeibagha, F., Win, T K., Susilo, W., 2015). Electronic health record systems or EHR are providing a better quality of services to patients in health care settings. In US, there is an estimation of 1.5 million patients harmed due too medication errors, yearly, with an estimation of 400,000 adverse events that could have been prevented (Agrawal, A. 2009). IT system based electronic health records are being implemented to improve access to information, while organizing the information, and linking it together for perfect patient outcomes. Often times

Although electronic health record (EHR) systems many healthcare organizations, are turning to the electronic health record (EHR), there are are potential and actual disadvantages of the system. Disadvantages of the EHR includes financial issues, changes in workflow, temporary loss of productivity associated with EHR system, privacy and security concerns, as well as several unplanned consequences (Menachemi & Collum, 2011).

The one issue not addressed in this article is the fact that at this stage in EHRs most of those responsible for developing EHRs are people not familiar with healthcare, so they don’t quiet have the understanding of what is necessary. There is no denying how critical clinical documentation is to healthcare. According to Health Information Management Technology: An Applied Approach (pg120), “the documentation found in health records is crucial as evidence of services provided and the quality of those services.” This has become so important that many healthcare setting have initiated clinical documentation improvement programs. With a growing and ageing population in need of quality healthcare, timely and accurate clinical documentation is critical to a successful healthcare system. However, I think it is important for everyone to remember that these things take time, as stated in the article we’re still in the early days of EHRs, so as time goes on these problems are sure to get

One of the biggest issue with EHR is that patient data can be accessed by unauthorized users. If that information fell in the wrong hands, a patient can become a victim of identity theft. To resolve the issue, healthcare organizations should first train their employees on HIPAA and the consequences for not following it. Then, they should give a different password to each authorized user to known who access the patient’s file. Finally, they should make sure their computer has a security system to detect and stop a