Ukhc Health Care Strengths And Weaknesses

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.

Electronic health records is a major component in the United States health care system. It has been proven to improve health care quality by saving time and reducing

Since the mid 1990’s, a predominant concept of healthcare is the iron triangle of care, consisting of three competing issues: quality, access, and cost. (Carroll, 2012). William Kissick, who introduced the model, suggested that if you improve one or two of these issues areas, it comes at the expense of the third. If quality of care is increased, it comes at the expense of access or through increased cost. If access to care is improved, it is at the expense of quality or increased cost. If an institution is successful at cost containment while providing care, it is at the expense of quality and/ or access. (Kissick., 1994, p.13). Despite this deeply ingrained concept, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) viewed the use of Health Information Technology (HIT) in the nation’s healthcare delivery as a resource to promote quality and access while potentially decreasing overall cost. (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, 2003). (Page 175 of Delivering Healthcare in America) In efforts to promote the use of HIT, AHRQ provided five goals of implementation that would best impact the healthcare provided throughout the federal and private healthcare systems. These goals, when applied to the federal

Hoping to infuse a sense of functional modernity into their sprawling medical facilities, the Bacon County Hospital and Health System (BCHHS) of Alma, Georgia elected to join the Georgia Telemedicine Program (GTP) in 2005, and through the implementation of specialized informatics systems many aspects of the hospital's healthcare delivery system have since been significantly improved. Adhering to the stated mission of the BCHHS to "provide compassionate and comprehensive community healthcare that is cost effective," the multi-tiered health system which spans multiple campuses underwent the transition to electronic health records (EHR) with the goal of standardizing its procedures and streamlining its processes. According to the Georgia Partnership for Telehealth (GPT), one hallmark of the BCHHS' inclusion in the program is the hospital's status as a hub within "the Open Access Network, which is a web of statewide access points based on strategic partnerships with successful existing Telemedicine programs … to maximize opportunities for timely specialty services" (2012). One of the pillars of the cooperative relationship between the BCHHS and the GPT is the emerging field of healthcare informatics, which "brings together the various health sciences (eg, medicine, nursing, public health) and other relevant fields including information science, computer science, and cognitive science … to promote the effective organization, analysis, management, and use of information in

Changes in current health care practices, the aging baby-boomer population, and the higher acuity of patients has created a need for change and adaptability with the health care industry. Kaiser is an organization who has shown the ability to continuously change in order to reduce costs while improving efficient quality patient care. The investment on information technology (IT) advancements such as the implantation of electronic health records (EHRs) and use of a patient portal system is one way the organization has shown readiness to meet the health care needs of patients. KP in collaboration with five other healthcare organizations created a Care Connectivity Consortium, enabling secure electronic retrieval of current

So much so that our political leaders and President Barack Obama have created a stimulus package called the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Within this legislature, improvements to our healthcare industry and systems have been made with long-term financial savings in mind. As technology and uniformed data was becoming the standard in healthcare, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act has accelerated the speed. “The number of certified EHR vendors in the United States has increased from 605,6 to more than 10007 since mid-2008” (Sitting and Singh, 2012). Healthcare organizations now have no choice but to invest in a new

But as noted previously, more is needed than standardizing these processes. Health care providers (physicians and hospitals) should embrace electronic health records (EHRs) and should integrate appropriate information from billing systems with clinical information (the recording and analysis of clinical services) from EHRs (Wikler et al., 2012; Cutler et al., 2012). To address concerns that occur due to accessing medical records, the secretary of health and human services could expand criteria under the Health information Technology for Economic and Clinical

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 ARRA includes the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, which pursues to improve American Healthcare and patient care through an extraordinary investment in Healthcare IT (HIT). The requirements of the HITECH Act are precisely designed to work jointly to provide the necessary assistance and technical operation to providers, enable grammatical relation and organization within and among states, establish connectivity in case of emergencies, and see to it the workforce is properly trained and equipped to be meaningful users of certified Electronic Health Records (EHRs). These computer software products are designed collaboratively to intensify the footing for every American to profit from an electronic health record (EHR) as part of a modernized, interrelated, and vastly improved grouping of care delivery.

The healthcare industry is in the midst of a major change from paper based medical record keeping to electronic medical record keeping. As part of the American Recovery and Investment Act of 2009, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act was passed (Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, 2014). HITECH is the U.S. Government’s first major contribution to the change from paper to electronic health information technology by setting meaningful use incentive program for Medicare and Medicaid providers that met certain requirements. Healthcare professionals that meet the meaningful use criteria will be awarded financially, and those that don’t meet the 2015 guideline will be penalized. We live in an electronic world of instant access to information and by adopting health information technology we give providers better and easier access to more information which in turn allows them to make a more informed diagnosis and treatment plan for the patient. The electronic health record (EHR) is part of the new information technology. According to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (2014.), EHR’s provide many benefits such as improvement in the quality of patient care; improvement in the coordination of patient care; more accurate diagnosis and better outcomes; a higher level of patient participation in their own care; and cost savings for the practice

The use of technology can be seen everywhere in the world today. One area which has seen a big push to add technology is the healthcare industry. Healthcare has now progressed to the age of electronic health records (EHR). The purpose of this paper is to discuss the evolution of the EHR, including the EHR mandate and the role of the Affordable Care Act in this mandate. It will discuss the EHR plan at Hackettstown Medical Center (HMC) to include the progress HMC has made with the mandate. This paper will discuss meaningful use and HMCs status with meaningful use. Lastly, the paper will define the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and what HMC is doing to prevent HIPAA violations.

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.

This paper outlines the differences between the healthcare systems of the United States and the United Kingdom and expands on what that means for the health and wealth of the citizens of these countries. The U.S. and the U.K. are two different countries with two very different healthcare systems. The U.S. healthcare system is the Affordable Care Act, (ACA) and is the attempt by the U.S. to provide affordable healthcare coverage. he U.K. healthcare system is publicly financed and managed by the National Health Service, (NHS). The U.S. healthcare system is largely private sector whereas the healthcare in the U.K. is public. “The U.S. spends more on health care than any other country in the nation while the U.K. is a country that spends

Sophisticated electronic records and computer systems for tracking patient care is another important attribute of Kaiser. Since five years, Kaiser is using the electronic information to identify and evaluate providers’ strengths and weaknesses in order to improve the quality of care (Abelson, 2013). The organization also uses the electronic records to improve its care delivery, e.g. by identifying at-risk patients and establishing alert and reminder systems for quick and timely care

This case study is based on the integration of electronic medical records known as EMR. The integration process came from Dryden, New York and was tested by a small medical practice named Dryden Family Medicine. The practice has been known for its outstanding family based services given to their community. The implementation process of EMRs doesn’t come without risks, but with its outstanding paper based medical record keeping that continued to expand as the practice grew left the Dryden Family practice no other choice but to try out something new in hopes for a better outcome.