Interoperability In The Medical Field

purpose of this paper is to review the electronic medical record and analyze its impact on

Describe how the recommended system will impact patient care and documentation. The core of care delivery and documentation is shifting to new technology innovations and developments. Stakeholders are in need of systems that contribute to improved health outcomes. Interoperability between technologies is vital to start the meaningful process change. However, divisive systems add to the complexity of health care management. Therefore, EHRs must have the correct architecture to drive value from all clinical information systems continuously. Strategic interoperability contributes to the systemic improvement of healthcare. Health care organizations can ultimately make fundamental shifts in population health with the use of interoperable technology coupled with meaningful process change.

Over the past decade, virtually every major industry invested heavily in computerization. The heath care industry was no exception to the rise in the use of technology. These technologies are starting to allow health care practitioners to offer faster, and more efficient patient care than ever before. No doubt this is the right direction we expect health care to follow.

There is improvement in financial, administrative and management information, decrease in the duplication of the records, decrease in the repetitive lab tests, and reduction in the cost associated with hospital stays. A lot of money is saved by electronically storing and managing volumes of information [1]. ITAA believes that an industry-wide investment in IT of $18.1 billion would yield gross savings of greater than $120 billion dollars for the health care industry over a six-year period. [2] Many billing errors, coding inaccuracy have been reduced and as a result of this, there is enhancement in revenue.

Interoperability is often a word frequently used as a goal to strive for when improving healthcare in the United States. Encouraging the utilization of health information exchange has been cited as a potential way to improve efficiency, increase safety, and enhance quality of care. There are numerous examples of how linking information between multiple data sources leads to a non-trivial task. When two operations are collecting the same data, but are recording information in different formats, it can be nearly impossible to bridge the information between those systems. Standards are important because they can facilitate mutual understanding during in regards to communication and health measures in the context of population health.

Better coordination of care – With digital records, clinicians can more easily coordinate and track patient care across practices and facilities. For example, the Mayo Clinic2 offers a “one-stop care” system that provides the services a patient needs—office visits, testing, surgery, hospital visits—under one roof so services can be coordinated and scheduled over the course of a single visit, rather than time-consuming multiple visits. Clinicians across specialties and disciplines also collaborate on

Further, the speaker notes how information has impacted the healthcare system. Notable changes are the implementation of the electronic health record (EHR). Digitization in the healthcare system is evident, and many practitioners have noted with the era of advancing technology, many prefer to use paperless information as opposed to dealing with piles of documents.

We can look at how technology is affecting healthcare. This can be accredited to the rising population rate. We have seen the use of electronic medical records (EMR). They have shown to not only improve the quality of care for patients but also reduce the overall costs of healthcare (Swartz, 2005). In the study by Health Affairs, an electronic medical record could save the United States over $81 billion in one year. This would tremendously cut down the cost for private insurances and Medicare. Also, technology has allowed for the increasing shift in the demographic population moving to larger cities. In our small rural hospital, the radiologist at larger facilities or teleradiologist read our exams. This still allows for adequate patient care by reducing the cost of a radiologist being

In my own words, health care interoperability is nothing short of essential. Interoperability’s basis falls on the exchange of data, but moving more specifically it’s the ability to exchange data regardless of the many different systems and/or codes of multiple Health Care establishments to finally end in the proper use of this data to improve quality of health care. Interoperability’s definition is very specific and in today’s world I view it as a goal that the Health Care system wishes to achieve. There are many different Health Care establishments that are spread all across the world. It is important for everything to be able to not only be transferred but to be understood. Interoperability is very important because health situations can

Information technology was incorporated into healthcare to increase quality, increase efficiency, and reduce costs. By increasing efficiency and reducing cost the electronic medical record would increase quality care for every. Just because something may be cheaper in the long run and faster, it does not always mean it improves quality and positive outcomes. I have seen increased communication and ability to locate information improved, yet I have also witnessed decrease patient time due to the many hoops and additional documentation that is being required by management, insurance companies and federal regulations.

Ninety two year old Samuel Rados was on dialysis, two knee replacements and two stunts. His wife carries a briefcase detailing all his procedures and medications with her at all times. While undergoing a MRI scan he suddenly developed arrhythmia but fortunately revived with emergency care. Mr. Rados had a pacemaker implanted which was missing in his medical docu-mentation. Had Mr. Rados’s nephrologist had access to his medical records from all of his spe-cialists, this potentially fatal mistake could have been avoided. These two examples of potentially serious medical oversights could have been prevented with the use of interoperable electronic medical information. From a macro-economic perspective, over the last century a number of new technologies and innovations have yielded a dramatic change in the way health care is delivered to the end users. Information and communication technologies have become the catalyst in providing efficient and effective delivery of health care services. Currently americans spend more resources on health care than any other industrialized nation. In the past few decades, while every sector of the American economy has embraced computer and information technology to increase productiv-ity and reduce costs, the health care system has failed to remedy this lingering frailty. At the mo-ment while most current computer systems are being mainly used for managerial and accounting purposes, there should be a growing effort to make a design for usable

Current technological trend in health care are electronically medical records. “An EMR contains the standard medical and clinical data gathered in one provider’s office. Electronic health records (EHRs) go beyond the data collected in the provider’s office and include a more comprehensive patient history” (HealthIT, 2014). At my facility the physicians can access a patients chart through their smart phone. This is convenient because at any point or anywhere a physician can add orders and change a patients plan of care. Physicians can also access current labs and dialogistic findings. In my opinion this was a great advancement in technology.

With digital patient files, patients are able to view results online without coming to the doctors office. The same goes for doctors, instead of waiting for mailed patient history or results, doctors can easily access a patient history. This is significant for surgeons because a lot of patients have previously done procedures that the surgeon must be aware of. Also, a long medical history can be hard for a patient to remember so the digital file really saves the surgeon a lot of time. Another upside to digital patient files is that the secure networks would not allow people to steal confidential medical information that could otherwise be stolen physically. This keep patients secure and doctors legally

The benefits of the computerized medical records system do outweigh the cost involved in setting that system up. The new system will make them more efficient bringing in more patients,

It is important to understand that patients are very satisfied with electronic health systems. For example, patients see a vast improvement in the speed at which they are being seen when they go their doctors’ office. Patients no longer have to wait on their physicians for hours due to the fact that their information can be readily available to their physicians when they come to see them. Moreover, all their information is transparent to their health care provider since all their data is in electronic form.