Electronic Health Records Case Study

In the medical field there have been a lot of technological advances and making health records electronic is one of them. The days of having a paper health record are almost obsolete. An electronic health record keeps a patient’s medical information and history on a computer which is accessible to more people in less time. I will explain how the continuity, communication, coordination and accountability of the electronic health record can help the medical office. I will explain what can be included in the electronic health record. As an advocate of the electronic health record I will also explain some disadvantages to the electronic system.

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.

While advancements in technology have positively impacted the nursing field, it has also created huge concerns with patient privacy and sharing of protected health information leading to detrimental effects to patients and their families. Indeed, technology is changing the face of healthcare with positive innovations to reduce medication errors and documentation errors. However, technology at our fingertips has created immense concerns with sharing of protected health information of patients via social media, email and other means of communication via technology. This paper addresses why I feel the advancement of technology has numerous deficits that need more research and implementation of new laws and policies to safeguard the

Use of an EHR presents major opportunities for the compromise of patient’s personal health information (PHI). The facility must ensure proper safe guards are implemented and functioning properly at all times. Employees need to be educated on the safety measures to prevent breach of patient confidential health records. Privacy breaches can result from misuse or improper storage of PHI by the healthcare professional, by third party payers, or by lack of proper encryption in the EHR system itself (Burkhardt & Nathaniel, 2014). The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) is a law that holds healthcare facilities and professionals accountable for keeping PHI confidential, patients to control

Electronic health records were a technological advancement in the healthcare industry in which paper patient record’s became digital. The transition from paper to digital charting allowed easier, quicker access to patient information for those who were authorized to do so. EHRs are secure and protected with username and password access only. It contains information such as patient medical history, procedures, diagnoses, medications, labs, tests, and treatments. Healthcare professionals and organizations who are authorized to access a patient’s electronic health record can do so at ease via a secure network or online database (HealthIT, 2013).

The Role of Electronic Health Records and Health Information Exchange in the Delivery of Quality Healthcare

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.

In the modern world technology is everywhere and it affects everyone’s daily life. People are constantly attached to cell phones, laptops, and other electronics, which all have affected how people live their lives. Technology is also a large part of the healthcare system today. There are many electronics and technologies that are used in health care, such as electronic health record, medication bar code scanning, electronic documentation, telenursing, and there are many more forms of technology that impact nursing. One technology that stands out is the electronic health record. The electronic health record, also referred to as EHR, is an electronic version of a patient’s chart, and it contains is a list of the patient’s current medications, allergies, laboratory results, diagnoses, immunization dates, images, treatments, and medical history (“Learn EHR Basics,” 2014). The purpose of the electronic health record is to have a patient’s health care record available to health care providers nationwide, but the patient can decide who has access to their record (Edwards, Chiweda, Oyinka, McKay, & Wiles, 2011). The electronic health record is a very important technology in health care and it impacts nurses, nursing care, and has a significant impact on patient outcomes.

The federal government established a nationwide health information technology (HIT) infrastructure which requires all health care facility personnel to use an electronic health record (EHR). According to Sewell & Thede, in 2004, President Bush called for adoption of interoperable electronic health records for most Americans by 2014. Electronic health records (EHR) is an automated system created by healthcare providers or organizations, such as a hospital in documenting patient care. In addition, EHR is an interoperable healthcare record that can comprise of multiple EMRs data and the personal health record (PHR). Furthermore, electronic health records can be created, managed, and accessed by approved clinicians and staff across more than one health care society (Sewell & Thede, 2013, p. 231-232). On the patients’ perspective, EHR will be used to support healthcare by providing electronic record of patients’ vital signs, demographics, allergies, medications, diagnoses, and smoking status. Consequently, on the providers’ perspective, EHR will support healthcare by use of decision support tools, enter clinical orders, such as prescriptions, provide patients with electronic versions of their health information, use systems that protect the privacy and security of HER patient data. Another meaningful use of EHR is to support activities such as conducting drug formulary checks, including clinical laboratory test results, recording advance directions for patient 65 years and

We live in a world filled with technology. School teachers and college professors use technology to give lectures, health care professionals use technology to keep medical records, or monitor patient’s vital signs, we use technology such as social media, to connect with people and gain acceptance. In 2014, Gary Turk posted a video to Youtube titled Look Up, in which he argues that technology, such as smartphones, causes us to miss out on certain things in life, because we don’t use it in moderation. Technology benefits our lives by making us more efficient in our professional and personal activities.

They need to support increased interconnections and automation in their healthcare environments, implement security measures without disrupting the workflow of authorized users, and avoid data breach costs and damage to their reputation. Limited IT budgets also impose constraints in many healthcare organizations. The complexity of ensuring compliance with security- and privacy-related regulations in healthcare and ensuring what policies and standards should be implemented requires solutions that explicitly address these challenges and can be integrated into an organization’s existing infrastructure and business processes. As data travels across various environments and is stored on an ever-growing array of endpoint and storage devices—including PCs, laptops, and removable devices—the need for strong encryption is becoming evident. If data received or accessed by unauthorized personnel (such as data on a lost USB drive or stolen laptop, or an email message sent to a wrong person) is encrypted (“undecipherable”), then it is typically not considered a breach under the HITECH Act and similar state laws. Yet healthcare facilities need to determine the extent of encryption they should adopt. For example, a hospital could decide to encrypt data only where there is the greatest risk of loss (such as patient data in email messages and on USB drives), and not in internal databases or systems where

As an Electronic Health Record worker it can be difficult with patients medical history, diagnoses, medication, treatment plans, immunization records, and radiology; a lot of this can be overwhelming because you have to make sure when your doing these things it takes times rushing into it may cause errors and huge mistakes when dealing with a patients health and there life itself. Things that you do can reflect on improving their quality of a patients care. For one not having enough training can be an issue maybe to much information to capture at one time.Lack of interoperability between information technologies, cost of set-up and maintenance, HIPAA violations, empty data fields, coping and pasting and end closing. It would definitely be best

A computer program that addresses the illegibility of paper is the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) Computer System, which is a system that allows physicians to add medical information into an electronic profile (Holroyd-Leduc, 2011). However, this system introduces new dilemmas: virtual disorganization and lost information (Rull, 2007). In addition, electronic document scanners try to address the mechanical destruction of paper. Though, the fate of these records is the same as desktop EMR systems (Laerum, 2013). So, how can health care be reformed to address the present medical errors? I believe the adoption of Apple iPads combines the freedom of writing on paper and the legibility of computers into a single technological solution. Implementing technology that decreases the occurrence of medical errors not only fixes the health care issue, but also sets your product as a model of success in reforming health care.

As per Fenton, Giannangelo, & Stanfill (2006), Workflow, project management, personnel, training, support, communication, motivation, vision, leadership and evaluation, are essential considerations for successful electronic health records (EHR) implementations. HI 5329 Assessment and Evaluation course utilized a team work practical approach that covers explicitly or implicitly the majority of those considerations. The first six modules within this course focused mainly on business processes and workflow modeling as described in ‘Workflow Modeling’ textbook (Sharp & McDermott, 2009), hence this is the first topic discussed in this paper. Additional skills developed during this course include communication and presentation skills, which is discussed here as the second topic. Lastly, the third topic is the economic aspects of evaluation as explained in the ‘Evaluation Methods in Biomedical Informatics’ textbook (Friedman & Wyatt, 2005). Although this topic was not covered within the course and the practical assignments, it grabs my interest as it discusses a critical real-world issue.

Nursing is a very interesting field because of the fact that it never stays constant; new changes occur all time in the purpose of improving nursing care. Nursing is a hands-on type of occupation; however, as the year elapsed the nursing field also shares its growth and development in the technology area. These technologies range from the simplest to the most sophisticated ones.