Examples Of Facility Upgrade In Technology And Patient Care

This case analysis of Stanford’s Hospital and Clinics (SHC) electronic medical record (EMR) system implementation will focus on how the healthcare organization focused on resolving a problem to meet regulatory pressures and responded to an opportunity to create operational efficiency, by capitalizing on the use of information technology to help reduce costs. We will discuss the organization’s IT problems, opportunities, and the alternatives available to address each. We will summarize an analysis of potential alternatives including the organization’s EMR system of choice and conclude with a recommendation to the Board on how to rollout the new system.

Health providers across America are using Electronic Health Records systems to keep up with patient’s health information. Long hours of filing and writing patients health information manually has become a thing of the past. The Electronic Health Record system, known as EHRs, has changed how patients and health providers communicate as a whole. It has taken information technology to a different spectrum, and has helped patients become more aware of their health history and health conditions. Throughout the years, EHRs systems have been crucially ridicule in the medical world, due to lack of knowledge, high expenses, and apprehension among health providers. Because there will always be challenges when new technology starts to expand in any type of establishment. I believe that EHRs serves a great purpose in health care despite its delays.

“a paperless, digital and computerized system of maintaining patient data, designed to increase the efficiency and reduce documentation errors by streamlining the process.”(Santiago, n.d., para. 1)

According to Rosenbaum et al. (2015), healthcare documentation combined with clinical communication that is coded for hospitalized patients is an important part of medical care. The paper or electronic healthcare record is then submitted to third party payers that provide reimbursement for services based on the guidelines of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), Medicare Severity Diagnosis Related Group (MS-DRG), and inpatient prospective payment system (IPPS) (Rosenbaum et al., 2015). The

In efforts to reform the United States healthcare system and create a nationally unified data exchange system the federal government has established an incentive program to eligible professionals and hospitals. The federal government has turned to certified electronic health record (EHR) technology to help facilitate the process of broadening health IT infrastructures. The federal government views EHR system used in meaningful ways as the key to reforming the healthcare systems. Meaningful use of the EHR systems can also improve the overall quality of healthcare, insure patient safety, as well as reduce the cost of healthcare to individuals (Bigalke & Morris, 2010, p. 116).

Over the previous eight years, there has been a significant investment of private and public funds to upsurge the adoption of Electronic health records (EHRs) across the nation. The extensive adoption and “meaningful use” of electronic health records is a national priority. EHRs come in various forms and can be utilized in distinct organizations, as interoperating systems in allied health care units, on a regional level, or nationwide. The benefit of utilizing an EHR depends heavily on provider’s uptake on technology. Benefits related to electronic health records are numerous and may have clinical, organizational and societal outcomes. However, challenges in implementing electronic health records has attained some attention, the implementation

Once the Authorization for the Use and Disclosure of Protected Health Information is complete, the medical record assistant will retrieve the request from a system called, Fax Finder. It is an electronically fax, that is placed on a computer desk top, and retrieves the request forms daily. The request forms are sent from physician offices, patients, and legal matters. After retrieving the request for example, a doctor’s office is requesting records that state the patient is cleared to return to work, after successfully completing a heart stint, the medical record assistant, will then access, Greenway (electronic medical record), and input the patients first and last name, and date of birth. Once the office note is located that states the patient can return to work as normal, it is then electronically faxed to the doctor’s office that was requesting the

Going Paperless: Electronic Medical Records versus Paper Medical Records “Is it time to make the switch?”

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.

Containing ninety participants, 36% of the respondents were hospital CIOs and I.T. executives, 19% from integrated delivery systems headquarters, 19% from group practices, and 27% from other facilities. Survey results pertained to patient health records, electronic health record (EHR) certification, and other IT issues in healthcare. According to the survey, “81% of respondents said their I.T. budgets will grow, with the most common prediction being growth of 5% to 10%. Implementing electronic health records was the No. 1 software investment priority for the coming year for hospitals, integrated delivery systems and group practices alike.” (CIOs Predict Future Trends, n.d) Interestingly, despite the economy at the time showing signs of a recession, “the vast majority of health care organizations expect their information technology budgets to grow during the next fiscal year, and this growth is driven primarily by a need to improve access to information for clinicians, the survey shows.” (CIOs Predict Future Trends, n.d) This improved access to information can be applied to patients as well, as the push towards cloud storage and record/test results access alleviates the need to wait, call, and require record searches from the physician’s staff. On the subject of streamlining access to the implementation to patient EHRs, 19% of

Therefore, several authors share some of the same ideas as to what some of the barriers faced during the transition to Electronic Health Records (EHRs) and if these barriers still exist once the transition to a full EHR system is complete. Herrick, et al., 2010, states that currently, there is no hard-core evidence to support the argument that Electronic Health Record (EHRs) and Health Information Technology is the best route for health organizations to prevent errors. In fact, the use of such technology could potentially lead to errors if information incorrectly entered in the system and Haupt, 2011, statement that smart software could help to prevent life-threatening errors better when administering medicines. Whereas, Boonstra & Broekhuis, 2010, states from a physician point a view need the understanding of the possible barriers that faced during implementation of EHRs because there a tremendous amount of literature on the obstacles but no suggestion on how to resolve these barriers have not been viewed. Barriers such as, financial on great startup and ongoing cost, technical and time to train staff and how much knowledge do they have with computer skills and psychological when support needed from vendors, etc. It suggests that once those barriers have been ironed out and a plan has set in place, then the transition from paper documentation to Electronic Health Records (EHRs) may go a lot easier for the healthcare arena physician, nurses and administrative

Many health care facilities are already starting to use an electronic health record in some of their departments. An electronic health record is a system that allows health care employees to input patient information into a computer system and saves that information into a database for the facility. The information that is being stored directly into the computer system is patients’ personal information (name, date of birth, address, emergency contact information, insurance information, and primary care physician and/or admitting physician), medical history, allergies, current medications, nurses and doctors’ notes, and other information that may pertain to the reason for the visit. Radiology and lab results are also saved into the electronic health record. Even though some health care facilities use a computer system to save some information, there may also be paper work that is also being used. This paper work is scanned into the facilities database so that it can also be saved and viewed if necessary.

Considering the great advances in technology, EHRs prior to January 2009 were underperforming. Often the EHR simply resembled the provider’s unique approach to healthcare. The technology existed, however the healthcare industry was not ready embracing the capabilities of the EHR. EHRs require standardization and each hospital had its own version of practicing medicine. It became apparent healthcare providers were going to continue business as usual; therefore the benefits linked to the capabilities of the EHR went unrealized. Indeed it is interesting the amount of time and legal maneuvers it took to spark the use of EHRs in hospitals. It was apparent government intervention to jump-start the EHR was inevitable. On January 9, 2009 passage of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health legislation (HITECH) opened the gateway to technology and implementation of the EHR.

Furthermore, during a medical emergency, physicians, or nurses who do not have time to access a computer for terminal cases can just simply grab patient’s chart (Tsai, Jack.2008). It’s like when a time is of the essence, paper records can make a difference. In addition, with paper health record it is stored in either a big warehouse or lock cabinet and only authorized personnel can obtain the medical records.

Record tampering, record loss, and legibility can all be affected by the paper medical record, while the EHR has resolved these risk issues. Paper records can be manipulated or lost due to theft, fire, and/or flood. In addition to those risks, even if the record is safe, there is no guarantee that the record is legible, this can leave an organization at great risk in the event of a lawsuit or if a patient needs copies