The Impact Of Health Information Technology In Healthcare Act

The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act) was passed as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on February 17, 2009. The road to patient-centered care was paved with the passing of the HITECH act, which authorized incentive payments through Medicare and Medicaid to clinicians and hospitals when they use EHRs privately and securely to achieve specified improvements in care delivery. If providers do not become meaningful users of EHRs by 2015, penalties will be triggered through reduced Medicare payments. These provisions aim to create a nationwide electronic health system that is efficient and secure to improve health outcomes and lower the cost of healthcare. To accomplish these

The adoption of EHR has been slower than expected (Gans 1323). With numerous systems available, it is particularly difficult for a smaller practice to identify which system best meets its needs. Other notable challenges for some practices include assumption of the capital investment as well as managerial responsibilities associated with the IT infrastructure. A common implementation challenge encountered is the lack of a universal vision and definition of EHR. Since there are multiple interpretations of the definition of EHR and attendant requirements, identifying current and future needs is a complex process for potential users. Short term limited ability systems will eventually become obsolete as there is a move toward more global EHR systems. On June 18,

After decades of paper based medical records, a new type of record keeping has surfaced - the Electronic Health Record (EHR). EHR is an electronic or digital format concept of an individual’s past and present medical history. It is the principle storage place for data and information about the health care services provided to an individual patient. It is maintained by a provider over time and capable of being shared across different healthcare settings by network-connected information systems. Such records may include key administrative and clinical data relevant to that persons care under a particular provider. Examples of such records may include: demographics, physician notes, problems or injuries, medications and allergies, vital

The Affordable Care Act of 2010 marks a new era in American health care. Yet in many ways, this era began more than a year earlier, with the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 and its Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) provisions. Although HITECH may be viewed narrowly as legislation to

In 2009, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) were passed by the Obama legislation to try and improve healthcare for Americans by reducing costs and improving quality. The ARRA is commonly known as the ‘stimulus package’. The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) act was part of the ARRA to help improve our country’s infrastructure. HITECH supports electronic health records– meaningful use (EHR-MU) which is led by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC). HITECH allocated over $27 billion in funds to help encourage the healthcare industry in

List at least five of the ways you see physicians employing meaningful use in their practices

The principal utilization of health informatics began in the 1950s with dental information gathered by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Utilization accelerated in subsequent decades which gave a standard programming language to clinical applications. Today, the International Medical Informatics Association (IMIA) oversees member organizations involved in health informatics worldwide. (Rouse, 2010). The potential for health IT to enhance the safety of health care delivery has been regarded for quite a long time. The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act,

Anita Ground also stresses on the huge importance of this planning stage by using a concept of system life cycle. It consists of feasibility study, analysis, design, programming, implementation, and lastly maintenance (Ground, 2011, VA TMS training material). The analysis phase in particular would coincide with what the author Yoshihashi is presenting in figuring out office strategy and researching EHR options. Identification of stakeholders and system requirement would play a critical role in EHR adoption (Ground, 2011). Stakeholders would include patients, family, clinicians, billing, registration, and coding as well as the external users such as Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Bottom line is that the new system being purchased would need to provide meaningful use to the clinic based on the current certification standards.

Electronic Health Record (EHR) is an electronic version of a patients medical history, that is maintained by the provider over time, and may include all of the key administrative clinical data relevant to that persons care under a particular provider, including demographics, progress notes, problems, medications, vital signs, past medical history, immunizations, laboratory data and radiology reports (Ehlke & Morone, 2013). The incentives from both of this articles will result in the delivery of quality care to many individuals in

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

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

Considering the great advances in technology, EHRs prior to January 2009 were underperforming. Often the EHR simply resembled the provider’s unique approach to healthcare. The technology existed, however the healthcare industry was not ready embracing the capabilities of the EHR. EHRs require standardization and each hospital had its own version of practicing medicine. It became apparent healthcare providers were going to continue business as usual; therefore the benefits linked to the capabilities of the EHR went unrealized. Indeed it is interesting the amount of time and legal maneuvers it took to spark the use of EHRs in hospitals. It was apparent government intervention to jump-start the EHR was inevitable. On January 9, 2009 passage of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health legislation (HITECH) opened the gateway to technology and implementation of the EHR.

“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

Electronic medical records (EMR) software is a rapidly changing and often misunderstood technology with the potential to cause great change within the medical field. Unfortunately, many healthcare providers fail to understand the complex functions of EMRs, and they rather choose to use them as a mere alternative to paper records. EMRs, however, have many functionalities and uses that could help to improve the patient-physician relationship and the overall quality of patient care. In order for this potential to be realized, both the patient and the healthcare provider must have a deeper understanding of EMR purpose and function. In this paper will highlights the historical developments and its potential effects on the patient physician relationship in order to

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).