preview

Ehealth Adoption Paper

Decent Essays

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 …show more content…

According to the Department of Health and Human Services, by 2009, EMR adoption rate for a freestanding ambulatory surgery center (ASC) was 22.3 percent versus 62.4 percent for a larger hospital-based ASC. Further, the likelihood of installing EMR in freestanding ASCs was 63.6 percent versus 87.7 percent in hospital-based ASCs. These differences in the EMR adoption and installation rates were reported due to limited availability of capital funds and the number of practitioners. Usually, it is difficult for smaller centers to generate enough revenue for installing fully-integrated EMR systems. Moreover, solo or fewer practitioners practicing in small ambulatory care settings could not afford to support such expensive EMR installations. (“Factors Influencing..”, 2010). Hence, hospital affiliation can be a key contributing determinant towards EMR adoption

Get Access