Healthcare Information Technology: Effects On Cost Access And Quality

In our society today, we have a broad range of computer technology for our use. This technology in the nursing field is called informatics. Informatics is defined as a combination of computer science, information science, and nursing science designed to assist in the management and processing of nursing data, information, and the knowledge to support the practice of nursing and the delivery of nursing care (Thede, 1). Nearly anywhere we go, and whatever career we choose we all need to have basic computer skills. Computers are used in the health care profession due to an increase of productivity they can provide, therefore allowing for better patient care. Computers also allow for hospitals, doctor’s offices, and other healthcare facilities to change over to and begin keeping electronic medical records (EMR). An EMR has the medical information that the doctors and nurses obtain when you have an office visit. The patient’s paper medical record is put into an EMR program is basically made into a digital version of that patient’s medical information. The patient’s healthcare provider can then use these EMRs for diagnoses and treatment. There can be advantages and disadvantages for healthcare providers to transition to an EMR system, and those providers will have to decide which one will outweigh the other.

In 2009, the U.S. Government passed The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, to promote the adoption and meaningful use of health information technology (Mangalmurti, Murtagh and Mello 2060). The HITECH Act authorizes grants and incentives to promote the “meaningful use” of electronic health records (EHR) by providers (2060). The effect is a high commitment to a technology-led system reform, urging a renewed national commitment to building an information infrastructure to support health care delivery, consumer health, quality measurement and improvement, public accountability, clinical and health services research, and clinical

Electronic health records (EHR) are health records that are generated by health care professionals when a patient is seen at a medical facility such as a hospital, mental health clinic, or pharmacy. The EHR contains the same information as paper based medical records like demographics, medical complaints and prescriptions. There are so many more benefits to the EHR than paper based medical records. Accuracy of diagnosis, quality and convenience of patient care, and patient participation are a few examples of the

Although the EHR is still in a transitional state, this major shift that electronic medical records are taking is bringing many concerns to the table. Two concerns at the top of the list are privacy and standardization issues. In 1996, U.S. Congress enacted a non-for-profit organization called Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). This law establishes national standards for privacy and security of health information. HIPAA deals with information standards, data integrity, confidentiality, accessing and handling your medical information. They also were designed to guarantee transferred information be protected from one facility to the next (Meridan, 2007). But even with the HIPAA privacy rules, they too have their shortcomings. HIPAA can’t fully safeguard the limitations of who’s accessible to your information. A short stay at your local

Healthcare information technology forms a pivotal part of today 's healthcare system. Improved quality of healthcare, patient safety, drastic reduction in medical errors and enhancement of care delivery is possible because of the induction of these solutions in the healthcare delivery environment. Today, healthcare IT solutions are enabling processes like planning, decision-making related to organizational development, strategic planning to drive growth, recruitment of competent personnel, managing employee benefits, payroll, intra-department communication, etc.

Health Information Technology has increased efficiency; medical breakthroughs have increased life expectancy, cures, and improved preventive care. Benefits of EMR’s are the opportunities for improving health care efficiency, safety, health benefits and net savings, reducing hospital lengths of stay, nurse’s administrative time drug usage in hospitals and drug and radiology usage in the outpatient setting (Takvorian,2007). EMR’s will assist with research and quality improvement leading to rapid advancement in personalized medicine. It helps patients become more involved in their care (Takvorian, 2007).

To improve healthcare in America, the Obama administration passed a law under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act, to encourage the widespread use of Electronic Health Records (EHR). Under this act, Clinicians and hospital would receive incentives and reimbursement for the effective used of EHR in their practices. Electronic Health Records is an electronic version of a patient’s medical history that is maintained by the health provider over time. It includes relevant clinical data that is pertinent in improving quality of care, reducing medical errors and potential health care cost. For the purpose of this paper, two functions of EHR will be discussed: Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) and Clinical Decision Support (CDS) tools. These two support tools have the potential to greatly improve quality care and to reduce health care cost.

Article was written by people with extensive experience in health care, pediatrics, and public health. Jessica Anker, Lisa Kern, Erica Abramson, and Rainu Kaushal, all of them are members of Weil corner Medical College and Health Information Technology Evaluation Collaborative. The intended audience is members of health care system, health care providers, and professionals that are involved in patient care. This article discusses how health information technology (HIT) together with organizational structure and clinician involvement can improve care and safety of our patients. I think that this article is important for nursing practice, because it shows that HIT alone cannot improve quality care, but together with work of clinicians and communication

In February of 2009, the American Reinvestment & Recovery Act (ARRA) was passed to help the nation modernize its infrastructure. The “Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act” was then passed to address the barriers to the adoption of the electronic health record by healthcare organizations (Sandefer, Marc, & Kleeburg, 2015). There are many barriers for healthcare organizations to adopt the electronic health record. These include: “substantial cost, the perceived lack of financial return from investing in them, the technical and logistic challenges involved in installing,

An Electronic Health Record is a computerized form of a patient’s medical chart. These records allow information to be readily available to authorized providers during a patient’s encounter with the healthcare system. These systems do not only contain medical histories, current medications and insurance information, they also track patients’ diagnoses, treatment plans, immunization dates, allergies, radiology images and lab tests/results (source). The fundamental aspect of EHRs is that they are able to share a patient’s information quickly across service lines and even between different healthcare organizations. Information is at the fingertips of lab techs, primary care physicians, pharmacies, clinics, etc. The

With the rapid growth in technology, many healthcare organizations have embraced the use of healthcare information technologies. As such, the information technology department has various staffs that perform fundamental roles in the information technology-related activities. It ranges from activities of customizing a software to implementing and maintaining a network to ensure effective system backups. In addition, these healthcare information technologies bring about other

This collection of articles spans the vast and complicated topic of understanding the high cost of healthcare in the United States. Included are articles that come from various disciplinary backgrounds and perspectives on the topic. By examining this topic from a multifocal point of view, complex nature of the reasons behind the ever-increasing cost of healthcare. Medical professionals, economists, religious leaders, and educators, contribute a unique perspective to this topic. By better understanding this topic and the

Throughout my interviewing process all aspects of health Information technology were discussed, and to my expectations the answers I received were somewhat expected. I interviewed a Registered Nurse who is currently employed by Covenant Healthcare with 20 years of experience, the mother of an infant who is very concerned about her kid’s health and believes it is a top priority, and a senior citizen who recently lost his due to complications associated with his diabetes. For the first question, the stakeholders were asked to voice their opinion on what they believed were the largest issues and challenges facing healthcare today. For the second question, How do they believe (the stakeholder) health information technology will impact health care in the future.

Hospitals utilize healthcare technology such as electronic health records to enhance patients care and the development of clinical decision and support systems to stretch that goal. There are a selection of tools that are put into place to enhance the decision making in the clinical workforce. Different CDS tools consist of computerized alerts and reminders to care providers and patients, clinical guidelines, condition specific order sets, diagnostic support, among other tools (“Policy Researchers &

The successful implementation and subsequent meaningful use of information technology solutions within a health care organization is a challenging and iterative process. The organization must engage in careful and ongoing strategic and tactical planning to ensure that the implemented technology will ultimately be effective and beneficial for its practitioners, staff, and patients.