Testing Using Electronic Transmission Systems

One of the issues with the electronic systems in health care for MU is the ability to retrieve laboratory results during a patient’s visit. In 2013, Hinrichs and Zarcone reveal that over 70% of medical decisions are determined by laboratory results. In 2007, AU Health implemented Cerner Millennium PowerChart that displays clinical data to improve the point of care for patients. With the PowerChart solution, the patient’s information can be easily verified, vital signs can be entered, and family history can be updated. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) signed by President Obama in 2013 places emphasis on expanding insurance coverage of medical care for everyone. As part of the ACA, the improvements in the way these results are exchanged and transmitted will add value to quality, safety, efficiency of health information (Hinrichs & Zarcone, 2013). The transmission and availability of EHR affect how other health professionals send and receive information at the local, state, and national levels.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) states that in order to realize meaningful use of the EHR technology, healthcare providers are obliged to apply the technology in a approach that enriches quality, safety, and efficiency of healthcare delivery; ebbs healthcare inconsistencies; involves patients and families; enriches care coordination; expands population and public health; and guarantees sufficient privacy and security guards for personal health information. (U.S Department of Health and

electronic health record (EHR) A secure real-time, point-of-care, patient centric information resource for clinicians allowing access to patient information when and where needed and incorporating evidence-based decision support.

The electronic health record (EHR) is a digital record of a patient’s health history that may be made up of records from many locations and/or sources, such as hospitals, providers, clinics, and public health agencies. The EHR is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and has built-in safeguards to assure patient health information confidentiality and security. (Huston, 2013)

6. Use certified EHR technology to identify patient-specific education resources and provide to patient, if appropriate

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.

Unfortunately, there are several limitations that prevent general compliance with the Privacy Rule, including factors such as lack of resources, administrative

Health care agencies invest large sums of capital into EMR and in addition, rely upon reimbursement from the Health IT system (for example Medicare and Medicaid). According to Hurdle et al., (2007), the American Medical Informatics Association [AMIA] Code of Ethics, “patients have the right to know about the existence of electronic records containing personal biomedical data” (p. 391). In addition a patient has the right to expect that “biomedical data are maintained in a safe, reliable, secure, and confidential environment that is consistent with applicable law, local policies, and accepted informatics processing standards” (p. 392).

The federal requires the healthcare organizations to adopt and demonstrate the use of electronic medical records (EMR) or the electronic health records (EHR). They contain patient’s medical history and it

Barrows states, “EMR’s have the ability to store a copy of your data which is beneficial in disaster recovery. The ability of drug interaction checking with prescription writing. Improves communication between providers related accessibility. EMR can strengthen the relationship between patients and clinicians. It will enable providers to make better decisions and provide

Electronic Health Systems are equipped with many features that are designed to reduce medical errors and help navigate patients through the healthcare system. One system that is worth looking at is the MedicsDocAssistant™ (MDA™). MDA™ supports many features such as alerts (“MedicsDocAssistant,”). Alerts will pop up on a provider’s screen letting them know that there is something wrong with the patient’s care. Alerts can range from prescription alerts, warning physicians of potential adverse drug effects or allergy complications, to alerts pertaining to clinical decisions regarding patient examinations, procedures and screenings that may be crucial. For example, the system will alert to the physician to remind female patients of a certain age to schedule a mammogram screening. The objectives of these alerts are to aid in properly diagnosing patients, identifying gaps in care, running appropriate tests as well as improving patient outcomes (“How EHR Alerts,” 2012).

Physicians in 1877 were required to report contagious diseases and the city of Chicago began collecting data on its resident’s recording vital statistics and deaths. Over 100 years later as technology progressed, the IDHP used technology in the form of genetic testing of E-Coli samples linked to an outbreak of food poisoning to trace the origin of the disease. Currently, computer technology, aided by the Internet has birthed an enormous amount of data that can help the IDHP and health educators focus on the needs of their city. Data collected by the IDHP provides the footing for developing and implementing public health policies and strategies for disease prevention and promotion. Thru data, a program’s success can be monitored and a communities needs

“An electronic health record (EHR) is a digital version of a patient’s paper chart. EHRs are real-time, patient-centered records that make information available instantly and securely to authorized users.” (healthit.gov) The EHR mandate was created “to share information with other health care providers and organizations – such as laboratories, specialists, medical imaging facilities, pharmacies, emergency facilities, and school and workplace clinics – so they contain information from all clinicians involved in a patient’s care.” ("Providers & Professionals | HealthIT.gov", n.d., p. 1) The process has proved to be quite challenging for providers. As an

Technology has influenced public health preparedness and emergencies in a number of ways. One vital advancement, is information technology (IT) infrastructure improvements and modernization that has allowed the creation of the National Alert Network and Laboratory Response Network. This strengthens the ability to report infectious diseases to state level systems so as to conduct surveillance and outbreak investigation and link to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (Lurie, Wasserman & Nelson, 2006). This advancement in technology fills gaps in the reporting communication networks to and from the CDC to the states.

Electronic health records (EHR’s) have many advantages, but there are plenty of disadvantages. EHR’s were created to manage the many aspects of healthcare information. Medical professionals use them daily and most would feel lost without it. Healthcare organizations were encouraged to adopt EHR’s in 2009 due to the fact that a bill passed known as The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act). “The HITECH Act outlines criteria to achieve “meaningful use” of certified electronic records. These criteria must be met in order for providers to receive financial incentives to promote adoption of EHRs as an integral part of their daily practice”, (Conrad, Hanson, Hasenau & Stocker-Schneider, 2012).