Legal And Ethical Implications Of An Electronic Health Record

In a healthcare world that operates on stringent budgets and margins, we begin to see the need for a higher capacity healthcare delivery system. This in turn puts pressure on the healthcare organizations to ensure higher standards of patient care, and compliance with the reform provisions. However, these are the harsh realities of today’s healthcare environment, a setting in which value does not always equal quality. The use of technology can help to amend some of this by providing higher capacity care without compromising quality; this can be done with the use of such technology as electronic health records (EHRs). This paper will aim to address how EHRs influence healthcare today by expanding upon topics such as funding sources, reimbursement methods, economic factors, socioeconomic factors, business influences, and cost containment.

There are two terms that are used in this discussion interchangeably and they are Electronic Medical Record (EMR) and Electronic Health Record (EHR). In general, electronic medical records are “are a digital version of the paper charts in the clinician’s office. An

In evaluating the plans of the Leonard Williams Medical Center (LWMC) and its subsidiary business entity, the Williams Medical Services (WMS), the overall objective is to implement new technology in the form of an Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system in order to streamline workflow, provide safe and quality care for patients and remain competitive with other healthcare facilities in providing these components with the use of advanced technology. The implementation of an EMR is the desire of the physician group, WMS, who refuses to listen to

As the national health care system transitions to the electronic health record (EHR), it is important to recall the impetus to this reform. Prior to the implementation of the electronic health record, the national health care system encountered many problems that impeded quality patient care. There was not a standardized formal structure with the process. Consequently, it lacked communication across disciplines and among providers and

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

The requirement is that eligible professionals and hospitals should be able to demonstrate “meaningful use” of certified EHRs in order to qualify for incentive payments under the Medicare EHR Incentive Program (“How to attain,” 2013). Practices who do not adopt EHR may be penalized in the form reduced Medicare reimbursements (Bendix, 2016).

Electronic health records, or EHRs are fully electronic forms of patients charts and health history. This has helped to keep all patient information streamlined into a specific area, as well as cut down on paper waste (Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information, n.d.) Health care providers are

A lengthy list of EHR benefits supports the evolution from paper to electronic medical record keeping. One such benefit, the significant reduction of needed storage space. Bulky paper charts require a lot of space and misplaced charts waste time and effort to locate. Since EHR data remains on the computer, medical practices no longer require secure on-site storage, and electronic files eliminate misplacing files. Another benefit to data remaining on the computer rather than a medical chart, electronic records allow immediate access from several locations. EHRs provide emergency room personnel access to allergies and other pertinent information of unconscious patients. The on-call physician accesses patient information from their home computer, rather than driving to the medical

As useful as the EMR is to patient care there exist a few drawbacks when records are transformed from paper into the digital form. Even though patient health records can only be accessed from inside the hospital’s computers, the EMR can be accessed from anywhere inside the hospital or from another hospital or clinic within the same organization. Before the implementation of the EMR, healthcare staff had to go directly to the patient 's physical chart and thumb through pages of information. Now, with the EMR, any hospital employee can access any patient 's information anywhere inside the hospital. EMRs are more easily accessible, even to personnel not involved in the

Although, the use of electronic health records (EHRs) not easy for healthcare organizations to implement or even can change due to their old way of doing things. For instance, Ajami at.el. 2011 & Castillo, 2010, both speaks of the importance of executives of clinics, vendors, physician, staff and IS leaders of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) in the marketing, selection, implementation and utilization has contributed to a myriad of problems due to miscommunication, misinformation, and misinterpretation between them. This transition may be a challenge, but may go smoother through communication between each of them. Because it may give each of them the opportunity to share information in writing or speaking, sharing

Electronic Health Records (EHR) are changing the way health care is delivered to patients, not just how patient medical information is stored. In the recent past, patient-doctor visits consisted of handwritten multiple medical forms to be completed, and most times duplicated. There were several areas of concern with past patient record keeping, omission of important care information, medical interventions and prescribed medication were missed in certain cases, erroneously prescribed or duplicated and records were lost or misplaced. EHR facilities and improves the quality of care by refining access to patient record by multiple health care providers and the patient; better decision support; reporting occurs in real time and is legible which

Dr. Kemp defines an electronic medical record (EMR) as “the digital version of a paper chart that contains all of a patients ' medical history from one practice” (Kemp, 2014). He also differentiates between the use of the term electronic medical record (EMR) and electronic health record (EHR). An EHR is more “comprehensive” than an EMR. It allows for data sharing across multiple practices. The use of both EMRs and EHRs has gained in notoriety in the last decade. And it appears that the use of these two terms is interchangeable. The idea of data sharing and having one’s health records at the click of a button is highly appealing. While there are several ethical implications to explore when dealing with computerized charting, the objective for this research review will focus primarily on three interesting concepts: autonomy, finance, and privacy, as it relates to information technology.

Researchers have found a containt between certain EHR systems and and higher rates of errors to medical records because of poorly designed systems or the users weren’t trained properly (menachemi and Collum, 2011). If the users aren’t trained properly they are most likely not inputting the information properly, leading to patients medical records to be incorrect. ACCORDING to Menachemi and Collum (2011), it is shown that have EHR within the hospital can lead to nurses and doctors to become over dependent on technology. Clinics and hospitals should be sure that basic medical care can still be provided without any technology incase a time comes when systems are down. EHRs can also lead to a change in power structure within the organization because certain jobs will no longer be needed (Menachemi and Collum, 2011). It may also cause physicians to lose their autonomy, the ability to function in an independent fashion, in making decisions for the patients “ because an EHR blocks the ordering of certain tests or medications” (Menachemi and Collum, 2011). Doctors and nurses need to make sure they know how to use the systems properly so they do not input or information improperly. They also need to ensure that they can do certain basic procedures without the use of

The implementation of electronic health records (EHRs) will be beneficial to the advanced practice nurse (APN). EMRs are readily available, portable, helpful in improving the safety and quality of patient care, and allow more time for interaction with the patient (Denisco & Barker, 2016). As APNs, EMR will help streamline access to pertinent data needed to make clinical decisions, alerts when an error is about to be made, triggers any allergies, assist in determining a diagnosis and in entering appropriate orders, and prompts APNs when new patterns in patient data are acknowledged (Denisco & Barker, 2016). The use of EMR is a great way to search patient’s information in an organized manner like their history, assessments, lab results, medications, plan of care, procedures, and referrals. By having this relevant information in one place, the APNs can decrease time looking up information and focus their attention on the patient.

The definition of the EHR is a place in which patient records are created, stored and retrieved. Most professionals have incorporated them into their practice. EHR’s are known to have allowed the sharing of information between a patients’ caregivers in an increased amount of time. They increase safety and efficiency in the clinical setting by delivering legible information.