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Electronic Health Records ( Ehr )

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Electronic Health Records
The concept of electronic health records (EHR) was introduced in 2004 (Sheridan, 2012), and in the 13 years that have since followed hospitals across the United States have adopted computer charting systems. As of 2015, 96% of hospitals in this country are using electronic health records systems (Conn, 2016). It is important for facilities to maintain safe and secure computerized charting to better care for patients and to protect and exchange medical information.
Description of the Electronic Health Record
An electronic health record is a digital copy of a patient’s medical chart, which replaces the paper charts formerly used by facilities. The EHR contains diagnoses, history, prescriptions, laboratory data, …show more content…

Facilities and providers were given financial incentives to select and begin using electronic health record systems that correlated with meaningful use, as further described below.
My Facility’s Plan Last March, my facility underwent the Epic system. This was a major project several years in the making. My hospital is part of a large health system consisting of 13 hospitals, numerous physicians’ offices, home health care, and skilled nursing facilities (SNF). The two smallest hospitals were chosen to go first; these included my hospital and another small one about an hour and a half away. My hospital is currently in the midst of the six step EHR transition. Assess your practice readiness. This was done at the administrative level, which took a hard look at our current practices. Strengths and weaknesses of the current system were noted. Goals were identified, as well as financial and technological concerns. Since my hospital was mostly on paper, a weakness that administrators surely recognized was the need for extensive computer training, especially for employees who were not used to using computers in other aspects of their lives. They may have also recognized the need to purchase new computers and upgrade existing computers, as well as the costs of such an endeavor. A significant goal would have of course been to link all facilities within our system through the same EHR,

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