The Application Of Biomedical Informatics

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.

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

In recent years, there has been a growing interest in the application of biomedical informatics in many aspects of the healthcare system. This is due to an increasing recognition that a stronger healthcare information system is crucial to achieve a higher quality care at lower costs1. Biomedical informatics is defined as “the scientific field that deals with biomedical data, information and knowledge-their storage, retrieval, and optimal use for problem solving and decision making.”2Biomedical informatics plays significant roles in the healthcare system and it has been applied in various ways in the healthcare system, specifically in the aspect of health care information system such as electronic medical record (EMR), personal health record (PHR), computerized provider order entry (CPOE) systems, bar-coding medication administration systems, telemedicine, telehealth, and administrative information systems 2.

While HPMG utilization of health information technology in three distinct manners certainly puts them ahead of many healthcare providers back in 2007, with ARRA and ACA, healthcare providers are required to implement electronic health records in some form. By 2013 over 63% of physicians in the United States adopted electronic health records and another 28% have a system partially implemented or plan to implement one in the next two years (The Commonwealth Fund, 2015). With 91% of physicians either having a system implemented or planning to implement, electronic health records are certainly a system that was replicated throughout healthcare in 2014.

The use and advancement of technology has expanded throughout the years. Technology has recently begun to be incorporated into the healthcare setting to enhance patient care, patient safety, and to optimize therapeutic outcomes. This concept is otherwise known as medical informatics, and is composed of six core areas: electronic health records (EHR), computerized provider order entry (CPOE), electronic prescribing, pharmacy automation and dispensing systems, privacy and security of informatics, and telehealth. Computerized provider order entry specifically refers to a licensed healthcare professional inputting medication orders and other medical information into an electronic pharmaceutical program.1 However, implementing CPOE has revealed

There are several challenges involved in successfully implementing the meaningful use of EHRs. Among the most significant barriers are the high expense involved in upgrading current EHRs to meaningful use compliant EHRs, the computer literacy of medical staff, interoperability and the effective exchange of data for coordinating care between different facilities, and patient privacy and security of their medical information. An additional significant hurdle is the computerized physician order entry (CPOE) criteria. A study conducted by the Journal of the American Medicals Informatics Association found that half of the hospitals that failed to achieve meaningful use cited the primary reason as failing to effectively implement

The problem the industry faces today is the lack of utilizing available IT resources within the healthcare organization. “As per the 2008 statistics in the NEJM article Electronic Health Records in Ambulatory Care - A National Survey of Physicians, NEJM 359:50-60, just four percent of physicians in the U.S. reported having an extensive, fully functional electronic-records system, and just thirteen percent reported having a basic system.” (Scot, 2015) The major implication of the problem is quality of care. Healthcare IT can help an organization improve medical efficiency, reduce costs, improve research, provide earlier detection and more.

Statistics have shown that only 13 percent of doctors and 7.6 percent of hospitals have adopted extensive electronic record systems. Even more perplexing, the adoption rate is even lower for comprehensive systems such as clinical decision support, with rates around 4 percent for doctors and 1.5 percent for hospitals. Enhancing data exchange through a more secure network and improving patient care with the use of clinical decision support tools must become priority.

Achievements in public health and technology have created growth in the health care industry. Significant advances in prevention as well as declines in death rates have created a need for a more sophisticated system of record keeping. While monitoring the health of the nation, planning and developing better health services, and delivering effective and efficient care is now more important than ever. The need to manage patient data has increased as well. Moving from a world where paper records are kept in file cabinets, to implementing a system where documents are stored and maintained on computers and accessed through EMR systems is a complicated procedure for a large system, let alone the smaller independent practices that still

In order for hospitals and other health care facilities to prevent the thousands of deaths and injuries that occur every year due to medical errors; health care systems were required to implement new record keeping technology. This technology has made patient information and treatment accessible to all who needed to see it. This is especially important when a patient has more than one attending physician and their care relies on each doctor knowing what the other one has done, serving as the prime communication tool between doctors. If organizations do not centralize their technology and essentially their patient databases, the potential for duplicate work or inefficient patient care can exponentially increase. These high tech medical

Hospitals have begun implementing Computerized Physician Order Entry (CPOE) systems intended to streamline and computerize the process of maintaining patient records and prescribing medications. These systems allow hospital administrators and healthcare professionals to quickly access clinical guidelines, recommendations, patient information, and other factors critical to patient care all at once. It was the intention of the hospital that the implementation and expense of this new system would reduce the number of errors detected.

The transformation of the U.S. Healthcare System has given new meaning to the phrase “Meaningful Use”. The government’s offer of significant funds to implement Electronic Health Records (EHR) has created valuable incentives for healthcare organizations to do away with paper charting and implement a new automated electronic system. The successful implementation of this new system requires the selection of the right team members with a wide array of perspectives, skills, and knowledge. This process begins by identifying an interdisciplinary project committee to be known as the Electronic Health Records (EHR) Leadership Team. This team represents a coalition of professionals in such areas as decision-making, finance, clinical specialists, and information technology. The Chief Executive Officer of the hospital ordinarily represents the development and implementation of the overall organization 's strategy will continue this role as EHR Team Lead position responsible for making final decisions regarding the new system implementation plan (NLC, 2014). The Chief Operating Officer manages the business aspects of the hospital including finance, legal and compliance, facilities and information technology and will participate in the project as the EHR Implementation Manager (NLC, 2014). The Medical Director who promotes education, improvement performance and quality assurance will contribute clinical expertise to the systems project as the Physician Champion (NLC, 2014). The

An effective Electronic Medical Record (EMR) is more than a management tool for controlling patient data. Methods used to monitor implementation, relationship between organization’s processes, professional roles, and communications techniques used to address issues during implementation are points to develop in this paper. The essential capability of this system consists in capture data at the point of care, integrate this information from the internal or external source, and support caregiver’s decision-making (OpenClinical, 2010).

Information technology is becoming an imminent part of today’s healthcare. The HITECH Act outlined the adoption of Electronic Health Record (EHR) through meaningful use criteria and federal incentive payments for providers who adopt EHR. Using EHR systems can improve patient safety and quality using checklists, clinical guidelines, alert systems, evidence-based practices, electronic prescribing, computerized physician order-entry systems (CPOEs), and performance dashboards. Moreover, EHR improves communication between providers and allied health professionals by providing faster and accurate communication.

Note: This content is especially associated with the work you will be doing in HIM 6520.