Ehr Swot Analysis . The Swot Analysis Will Focus On The

EHRs adoption is an essential part of improving patient safety and the quality of health care by reducing errors, allowing access to complete and accurate medical information to produce better patient outcomes. Although, it seems like a win/win situation there are still some challenges that appear when implementing an EHR. Some challenges would be Time, Cost, Work- Flow Distribution, Security/Privacy, and Interoperability just to name few. Interoperability is defined as the ability of a computer system or software to exchange or make use of information, which can create a major issue for any organization if these systems are not communicating properly. Security and Privacy are always a concern because implementing HIPAA measures is not an easy task. Not only do you have to comply with the federal level organization still need to recognize state laws which can often be more stringent. Especially, when you need to cover areas such as mental health, drug and alcohol services, genetic testing, HIV, and family planning issues. Change management would be enacted to overcome any issues involving process change resistance. It is a methodical approach and application of knowledge that use tools and resources to deal with this type of change. Methodologies would

Public Health Record PHR is an electronic record of health-related information on an individual that is used by patients to maintain and manage their health information in a private, secure, and confidential environment. PHR can include information from a variety of sources, including health care providers and patients themselves.

Electronic health records, or EHRs are fully electronic forms of patients charts and health history. This has helped to keep all patient information streamlined into a specific area, as well as cut down on paper waste (Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information, n.d.) Health care providers are

It is patient centered and consist of valuable and portable information strictly about the consumer or the patient. It is created and maintained by that individual consumer or patient. “The PHR is a tool that can you can use to collect, track and share past and current information about your health or the health of someone in your care” (American Health Information Management Association[AHIMA], 2017). PHRs help individuals to become more engaged in their own health care. Each person has an ultimate responsibility to take care of self and be knowledgeable about his/her own care and to make informed decisions.

Anita Ground also stresses on the huge importance of this planning stage by using a concept of system life cycle. It consists of feasibility study, analysis, design, programming, implementation, and lastly maintenance (Ground, 2011, VA TMS training material). The analysis phase in particular would coincide with what the author Yoshihashi is presenting in figuring out office strategy and researching EHR options. Identification of stakeholders and system requirement would play a critical role in EHR adoption (Ground, 2011). Stakeholders would include patients, family, clinicians, billing, registration, and coding as well as the external users such as Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Bottom line is that the new system being purchased would need to provide meaningful use to the clinic based on the current certification standards.

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.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) states that in order to realize meaningful use of the EHR technology, healthcare providers are obliged to apply the technology in a approach that enriches quality, safety, and efficiency of healthcare delivery; ebbs healthcare inconsistencies; involves patients and families; enriches care coordination; expands population and public health; and guarantees sufficient privacy and security guards for personal health information. (U.S Department of Health and

I also have a PHR and I love it. I enjoy having a patient portal because I can review my lab results rapidly and I can communicate with my doctor through the portal if I have any concerns or questions. As Hebda and Czar (pg. 331) stated, “patients are able to be more involved in their care as well as be more knowledgeable in their health status. The use of personal health record allows for more effective continuity of care as information is more easily shared and accessible by those caring for the patient. Personal health records contain information from ones entire lifetime allowing for a more informative development of a plan of care”.

Health information technology (HIT) involves trading of health information in an electronic format to advance health care, reduce health expenditures, improve work efficiency, decrease medication errors, and make health care more accessible. Maintaining privacy and security of health information is crucial when technology is involved. Health information exchange plays an important role in improving the quality and delivery of health care and cost-effectiveness. “There is very little electronic information sharing among clinicians, hospitals, and other providers, despite considerable investments in health information technology (IT) over the past five years” (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2014, p. 1).

During the initiation phase of an EHR, it’s imperative to keep security at the forefront of discussions. There is actually quite a bit of resources that need dedicated to the needs of security at this point. The facility information security officer and key stakeholders should be engaged early on in the discussion of an EHR system. This will ensure appropriate focus on not only institutional security policies related to healthcare data, but also at state and federal regulations aimed at safeguarding healthcare data and the systems that contain it. In addition, at this phase it’s imperative to discuss the what the business impact to the organization would be should the system be compromised and/or suffer catastrophic failure, so that recovery plans and options can begin to be visualized. This is the common goal of a business impact analysis and disaster recovery review. Another key point of focus during the initiation phase would be to look towards the development of the system with regards to infrastructure needs to maintain privacy and

A SWOT analysis guides you to identify your organization’s strengths and weaknesses (S-W), as well as broader opportunities and threats (O-T). Developing a fuller awareness of the situation helps with both strategic planning and decision-making. “It is an analysis is a strategic planning method used to evaluate the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats involved in a project or in a business venture. It involves specifying the objective of the business venture or project and identifying the internal and external factors that are favorable and unfavorable to achieving that objective. SWOT is a tool to help evaluate your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats associated with a specific opportunity of interest, such as a job, Completing a SWOT Analysis will help you focus your job search.

The definition of the EHR is a place in which patient records are created, stored and retrieved. Most professionals have incorporated them into their practice. EHR’s are known to have allowed the sharing of information between a patients’ caregivers in an increased amount of time. They increase safety and efficiency in the clinical setting by delivering legible information.

Understanding how to use SWOT analysis is vital in any business industry but can be extra beneficial in the healthcare industry. Not any other industries have so many different impacts in the same way the healthcare industry does and this is because the healthcare industry must change as much as not only people change but also as much as technologies changes and taking this into consideration change is always taking place. Knowing the strengths and weaknesses, opportunities and threats can give great insight into how your organization is doing and where and what changes need to be made in order to do

According to Nicole Fallon of the Business News Daily, a SWOT analysis is an analytical framework that can help any company face its greatest challenges and find its most promising new markets, by identifying the organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (2017). It allows for an extensive evaluation of the company’s internal and external resources as well as current and future threats that the company may face. This process can be a great asset in determining and exploring new initiatives, as it helps to identify areas of improvement within the organization while helping with the facilitation and implementation of new business policies. This process is crucial in refreshing the strategies and tactics of any

Lee et.al (2009) identified the concept of the PHR as those that “includes an electronic application enabling individuals to access and manage their own lifelong health information, and to share all or parts of such information with other individuals or care providers or authorized persons in a secure and confidential environment”. Looking at more literature, “The Markle Foundation’s Common Framework states that the key characteristics of a PHR are that the patient controls his or her own PHR, that the information is from the patient’s entire lifetime, the PHR contains information from all providers, is accessible from anywhere at any time, and is both private and secure” (Kannry, et.al.2012. p. 594).