Epic Ehr

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.

Hence, EHR 's are inherently complex amalgamations of diverse subsystems targeted toward varied users. The stakeholders are the users and must have a role in implementing any IT or EHR system into its work flow. An EHR can be customized to accommodate any environment depending on the level of expertise of the vendor and how long they have been in the business of creating an optimum system that 's customized to fit the organizations needs. For the most part, EHR 's must be designed for efficient, error free use. Ideally, an EHR is a system that encompass all the subsystems that make a hospital meet "meaningful use" criteria to acquire incentives for adopting EHR into practice. In the next five years, EHR adoption will no longer be a luxury, it will be a "MUST". EHR 's and other health information technology will be a necessity to practice medicine (econsultant.com, 2010). Rather than purchase several standalone systems, it would behoove one , in my opinion , to purchase an EHR that would satisfy all the needs of the stakeholders, the physician , nurses and other hospital staff and all parties involved in the tertiary practice too. Although LWMS 's budget is not large enough to accommodate the full cost of implementing an EHR,

If significant advances in its special service lines are made it would allow the medical center to raise its capabilities considerably above those of other surrounding hospitals and function as a regional referral center for selected types of care (Zuckerman, 2005). An example of adding a new piece of advanced medical equipment is that our facility could be the first one to offer that service in the area. Especially if the new piece of equipment is a special new diagnostic tool; other medical treatment facilities in the area could place referrals to our which would increase our revenues even more or the patient could move to our practice at our facility. In the end the it might have cost some money but the return could be greater than without out the new equipment which could lead to more new advanced technology for the medical center.

“… longitudinal electronic record of patient health information generated by one or more encounters in any care delivery setting”. Included in this information are patient demographics… reports. The EHR automates and streamlines the clinician 's workflow. The EHR has the ability to generate a complete record of a clinical patient encounter, and related activities directly or indirectly via interface—including evidence-based decision support, quality management, and outcomes reporting.”(GAO, 2010)

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

The EHR article explains the progress and the adaption of rates of EHR systems over the years. The article states there has been a slow participation in the EHR incentive program, but there has been a shown continue increase in implementation in provider settings of EHR in 2014. As for Physician and Hospital, there has not been a fast implementation. Many of these facilities are at only stage one of the meaningful use in 2014 about one out of five hospitals and only 38% of hospitals is at the second stage of meaningful use. There have been gains in the implementation of new EHR systems in 2014 there was a 75% adoption rate in 2014 compared to 61% in 2013 for hospitals and for physicians 62% plan to participate in the EHR

Better patient outcomes, a decrease in employee turnover, increased scores from JACHO (Joint Commission on Accreditation of Hospital Organizations) and improved financial stability. One can also reap the benefit of working in an environment filled with a compassionate staff (Chapman, 2010).

When you are looking at a new vendor to build a relationship with, there’s a lot at stake. Reliability, training and service and long-term viability are only a few things you must evaluate. When selecting an Electronic Health Record (EHR) vendor, the stakes are even higher. Finding the right EHR will help you provide quality care and make your practice more efficient. But selecting the wrong one can reduce the number of patients you see, expose you to security threats, and even prevent you from accessing critical information if the system goes down.

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 use of electronic health records (EHR) aims at improving the quality and safety of patient care. An electronic health record (EHR) is an electronic version of the patient’s entire medical history including past diagnoses, treatments, and current medications being taken. There has been a rise in the conversion to EHR from paper records because these electronic records can track patient data over time and monitor parameters such as trends in vital signs over time or vaccination history, all which contribute to the improvement in the quality of patient care being delivered (Department of Health and Human Services, 2014). EHR’s are used currently to make more efficient, comprehensive decisions about patients, because there is more information available at the fingertips of the providers. By adopting EHR’s, it can provide health care providers accurate, more comprehensive information about the patient’s health to enhance the ability to provide quick and efficient care, to better coordinate patient care, and to provide a way to share this comprehensive set of information with both the patient and their families (Department of Health and Human Services, 2014). The purpose of this paper is to explore EHR’s in entirety including the EHR mandate, who started it, when it was started, and what the objectives and goals of the mandate are. The connection between EHR’s and The Affordable Care Act will also be explored. Each facility has their own implementation of the use of EHR’s;

The success of our approach can be seen in improved collections and cash flow. It also offers better insights into how the practice is performing financially and operationally. This results in more profits and more free time to concentrate on patient care.

Healthcare’s transition to electronic charting has been years in the making and there is no shortage of electronic health record (EHR) vendors. According to HealthIT.gov (2015), as of March 2015, there are roughly 605 vendors that provide EHR services as noted by Meaningful Use attestation. The largest share of providers and hospital organizations use Epic for their electronic charting needs. Roughly 109,309 eligible professionals and hospitals used Epic for Meaningful Use attestation according to HealthIT.gov, which is twice as many as the next closest vendor, Allscripts. Epic also holds the most clients as a primary EHR vendor, as they are an all-inclusive EHR offering (HealthIT.gov)

This feature will be beneficial in reducing the cost of services since ancillary facilities are generally cost less than having the same procedure performed in a hospital setting (Kongstvedt, 20143). If the service costs less than my portion will also be less as than if the procedure was done in a more expensive hospital operating room.

They can now concentrate on more difficult tasks resulting in improved health services and higher profits. The medical staff no longer have to waste time taking calls and setting up medical examinations, as this can be done by a medical concierge service.

Numerous healthcare organizations are investing in the use of Epic Electronic Record (EHR) solutions to improve quality of patient care and efficiency. With the growing reliance on digital records for everything from patient test results to medical records to billing and HIPPA reporting, high level of availability Epic HER environment has never been more important.