Abstract
For the past years, medical technology has been rapidly advancing shifting from robotic and laparoscopic surgery to drug-coated stents. However, the healthcare industry has remained behind interns of investment and utilization of Information Technology. Electronic Health Records (EHRs) as part of the IT has been established to possess enormous potential to improve the quality and safety levels. In overall, research has shown that Electronic Medical Records help reduce errors, improve communication between healthcare providers and facilities and cut down the cost of the care provided. Further, it can be used to enhance the efficiency of care provision within a healthcare organization. Studies have shown that prevalence of IT in the healthcare system is very low despite efforts to invest in electronic health records. The essay will focus on the importance of adopting and implementing Electronic Medical Records within a healthcare organization.
Introduction
The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009 is one of the largest initiatives in the US designed to encourage the utilization of electronic health records (Menachemi & Collum, 2011). There are advantages of the HITECH Act for healthcare professionals. First, the physicians are in a better position to gain a right of entry to a patient’s medical records at all time irrespective of place. There is adequate time to care for all the patients using electronic health records since the healthcare provider does not necessarily have to manage patient records distribution. A qualified IT group runs the support and maintenance of the IT system. According to Miller & Sim, (2004), all the updates required will, therefore, be handled by the IT experts centrally rather than on a single computer one by one.
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According to Menachemi & Collum (2011), the federal and state governments, large medical institutions and the insurance firms have heavily promoted the adoption of Electronic Health Records. Research has pointed out that that the severe medication errors might be lowered by about 55 percent when computerized physician order entry system is adopted and by about 83 percent when automated physician order entry system is used together with clinical decision support (CDS) system which alerts the physician based on the clinician orders. The US Congress for instance introduced a particular formula for both incentives which entailed 65,000 over six years under Medicaid and up to $44,000 per physician under Medicare in addition to penalties such as reduced Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement to practitioners who do not use EMRs by the end of the year 2015, for the adoption of EHR/EMR as part of the HITECH Act. One of the VA study established that its EMR system improved their efficiency by about 6 percent yearly (Menachemi & Collum, 2011).
American College of Physicians in their 2014 research found that the family practice physicians spend about 48 minutes daily when using EMR. The Joint Commission cited that based on the US Pharmacopeia MEDMARX database where there was approximately 176,409 medication error records in 2006 and among them, about 25 percent (43,372) were related to computer technology as the cause of the errors. Electronic Medical Records helps reduce preventable administrators’ errors, and it quickly records clinical and administrative patient information.HITECH Act demands that all providers and practitioners adopt the use of EHRS and utilize them in the most meaningful way such as error reduction and containment of costs.
Administrators Role
Electronic Health Records facilitates the administrative roles in the healthcare. It helps in improving overall medical practice management where it facilitates the introduction of an intergraded scheduling system which will help to connect the appointment of the patients directly to the automated coding and management of claims. Therefore, as a healthcare administrator, it is very critical to comprehend the benefits of using Electronic Medical Records, and implementing the use of Electronic Medical Records (Menachemi & Collum, 2011). Electronic Health Records also helps to save time where it facilitates a centralized chart management in addition to queries that are specific to a given condition (memorialcare.org, 2017). There is an enhanced communication among practitioners, laboratory staffs through an easy accessibility to the information of a patient, ordering and diagnostic image in addition to automated formulary checks by health plans. EHR further allows for efficient tracking of the messages to providers, clinicians, labs. EHR will help to eliminate paperwork thus reducing the time that the practitioners will spend in carrying out all the paperwork (Benefits of EHRs n.y).
Patient Care
Electronic Health Records plays a critical role in enhancing patient care where it allows for immediate access to the records of a patient for more synchronized and competent care. With the introduction of EHR, the quality of patient care will thus be improved because treatment and drug administration will be strictly based on the accurate patient information. Clinical decision support system helps providers in the process of decision making regarding the patient care (Miller & Sim, 2004). Primary functionalities of the clinical decision support system are the provision of latest information about a drug, alert for drug interaction and even cross-referencing potential allergy of a patient to the medication. Therefore, EHR will result in a continuous development of medical skills and chief functionality provides a way for care delivery most safely and proficiently (Menachemi & Collum, 2011).
Patient Safety
Electronic Health Records has the potential of improving patient safety and support better patient outcomes. Studies that focus on the patient safety mostly examine the overall impact of the EHR on the medical or even medication errors. Miller & Sim, (2004) posits that the reduction of severe medication errors within a hospital setting thus improves the safety of patients. EHR manipulates the patient’s information in a way that makes a difference for patients (Menachemi & Collum, 2011). For instance, qualified EHR will keep records on medications of a patient and at the same time provides the automatic check for any problem that might emerge when the new drug is prescribed and alerts practitioners to possible conflict. Information gathered from primary care and stored in EHR will inform the doctor within emergency departments concerning the life-threatening allergy to the patient.
The clinician will be able to adjust care appropriately even in a situation where the patient might be unconscious. EHRs can further expose a possible safety problem when they occur, which ultimately helps the physicians to evade severe impacts for the patients and lead to the better patient outcome which enhances patient’s safety (Practice Fusion, 2017). Finally, Electronic Health Records can further help the providers much quickly and systematically identify while correcting operational problems that will eventually improve the overall quality of care and safety of the patient.
Providing patients up to date information
Research has shown that the EHR can provide patients up-to-date and whole data concerning the patients. Benefits of EHRs (n.y.) claims that the use of Electronic Health Records allows for easier access to the computerized records of patient’s information based on the recent information and elimination of potentially poor penmanship that previously used to plague the medical chart. Internet will ensure that up-to-date data is generated related to the patient’s condition (Menachemi & Collum, 2011). The online database is full of recent information related to a particular disease hence will allow the clinicians to access the data and appropriately determine the condition based on the current data facilitating quality care delivery.
Quick access to patient records
Using Electronic Health Records, the entire patient’s information is entered and recorded online which ultimately facilitates easy and fast access by the clinicians whenever required. In a situation where the patient is placed under various practitioners’ care, the process of tracking patient’s history such as current medication, allergies, past procedures and blood type can be significantly problematic particularly when depending on the paper charts (Practice Fusion, 2017). The utilization of the electronic health record, in this case, will enable the multiple care practitioners irrespective of their location to access the records of the patients from any computer concurrently. In this case, electronic records will provide an up-to-date data on the patient’s history including other physician’s recommendations and current test results thus allowing for a proficient partnership on manifold facets of patient’s care.
Diagnosis of patients
EHR has been shown to have the potential of improving overall diagnosis and patient care. Healthcare providers will be able to have full access to comprehensive and efficient data thus providing quality care. EHR, in this case, will facilitate an improved capability of the practitioners to diagnose diseases which will ultimately reduce and prevent potential medical errors and improve patient outcomes (Benefits of EHRs n.y.). Electronic Health Records with a dashboard will help clinicians to get more information necessary for diagnosis much easier. A robust and comprehensive EHR for various specialties will help the doctors to assess the patient’s health thus reducing the possibility of overlooking specific symptoms (Med, 2008). Such information will enable the medical practitioners to make the much better diagnosis of all condition presented. Therefore, there will be fewer cases of misdiagnoses, malpractice, and fewer instances of death.
Reducing preventable administrator’s errors
Computerized physician order entry system will help the doctors to enter the orders for the physical therapy, laboratory test, drugs and radiology in a computer instead of on paper. Within a healthcare institution, computerization of all the ordering processes will help eliminate potentially dangerous medical errors that might be caused by poor penmanship of the doctors (Med, 2008). Studies have shown that Electronic Health Records has the potential to make overall ordering processes much more efficient since nursing and pharmacy staffs do not necessarily need to seek any clarifications or even engage in soliciting missing information from other incomplete or illegible orders (Menachemi & Collum, 2011).
Reducing medical error
Studies have established that Electronic Health Records can lower overall medical error where the practitioners will be able to quickly transfer the patient data to the rest of the departments while minimizing errors thus yielding improved result management (memorialcare.org (2017). Reduction of medical error is of greater importance to the patients and doctors. EHR will, in this case, eliminate the issue of lost or even misplaced files and minimize data errors that will emerge from the transcriptions (Practice Fusion, 2017). EHR technologies will further prevent medical errors through flagging potential drug interactions or any other adverse reactions. Most of drug prescription errors are caused by failure to recognize possible dangerous side effect based on the medical history of the patient, drug prescription that interacts with other drugs, incorrect dosage or prescription of the drug to a patient who is allergic.
Improving efficiency
EHR often generate a positive return on investment and at the same time improve overall efficiency. EHR-enabled organizations mostly report less time that is spent chasing charts where the practitioners have an easier and quicker access to the patient record thus save time. Med (2008) claims that Electronic Health Records results in an improved medical practice management where automated coding and easy-to-manage claims environment ensures that the staffs run the firm efficiently while improving the medical practice management. Electronic Health Records further facilitate better information availability where the records of the patients are simultaneously available to all doctors at all time to efficiently locate and process information. It also reduces paperwork where all the administrative tasks including filing forms, processing bills become streamlined (memorialcare.org, 2017). Finally, Electronic Health Records enhances information sharing by programming the EHR for easy automatic delivery of information.
Reducing cost
Administrative tasks like filling out forms, ordering and billing request process, represent a significant portion of healthcare expenditure. According to Practice Fusion (2017), electronic medical record software can significantly reduce overall cost and improve the safety of patients thus make acquiring the software a good investment. Physicians are in the business of saving the life, however, achieving their objectives would be impossible if higher overhead costs and low returns continue to affect the organization. memorialcare.org (2017) asserts that the adoption of electronic medical record system would help reduce overall office supply expenses where practices will go paperless thus saving extra expenditure on papers. EHR allows for the efficient allocation of resources thus saving money by eliminating the need for a full-time medical record clerk.
Quality and Convenience
Medicine is entirely dependent on information; therefore, adoption of Electronic Health Records will make it much easier for the patients and providers to share information to improve care quality and enhance convenience efficiently. EHRs are the foundation for quality improvements in an organization where it places accurate information concerning the patient’s health and medical history at the fingertips of the providers (Miller & Sim, 2004). Using such data, practitioners will be able to provide best possible care at a particular point of care. Such collaboration between patient and doctors create an aspect of convenience resulting in better patient experience. Practice Fusion (2017) posits that EHRs has the potential of supporting provider decision making thus helping providers make efficient and effective decisions about patient care through a built-in safeguard against the potentially harmful situation and clinical alerts and reminders. Data will be easily and quickly be accessed thus enabling the practitioners to provide on-time care while reducing potential errors.
Communication within facilities and providers leading to better decision making
Communication between providers plays a critical role in the decision making regarding the patient’s condition. Communication between the nurses and physicians will be significantly improved with the adoption of Electronic Health Records, which ultimately allows each of the critical part to access crucial medical history of a patient instead of a snapshot-type impression from the current visit (Practice Fusion, 2017). Medical history of the patient including the ongoing treatment and doctor’s recommendation will be recorded and save online with the adoption of HER allowing other practitioners to easily access such information for better decision making based on what had already been provided on the patient’s records. Such access will allow for a more in-depth evaluation and assessment enabling physicians to reach a possible and accurate diagnosis quickly. Electronic health records will further allow practitioners to to follow up their patients while tracking continuing care efficiently.
Tracking data
Research has shown that with the introduction and implementation of Electronic Health Records will facilitate efficient tracking of their patients (Infinit Healthcare, 2016). Medical practitioners will be able to easily transfer the information to various departments and providers which will help reduce errors while facilitating tracking continuum care. The hospital will be able to keep the schedule on track to know whether the patient is improving or the condition has worsened for further recommendation.An EMR will be much beneficial than paper records since it will allow for timely and continuous tracking of the patients irrespective of time and place. Doctors and nurses will further be able to track and monitor their patent at home without having them visiting the healthcare organization which will also help save on time and resources on transport (Miller & Sim, 2004).
Organizational rules
Med (2008) asserts that the adoption of Electronic Health Records will consequently have a significant impact on the corporate rules in some ways. The organization’s staffs will be able to easily access all the rules and regulations that govern their operations and behavior thus ensuring that each knows and understand them. It is evident that EHR will keep the rules on the fingertips of the employees thus improving compliance. Employees will apparently know what is required of them and what they should not engage in which will overall improve the adherence to the rules which will further be reflected in the quality of care delivered and reduced mistakes (Infinit Healthcare, 2016).
Discussion
Based on the analysis above, it is evident that as health organizations move from paper charts to electronic medical records, numerous benefits would be reflected the patients and provider. EHR will be accessed on demand and can probably save lives, time and money (Infinit Healthcare, 2016). Adoption and implementation of EMR in the healthcare organizations are vital to the success of the organization. The primary advantage of adopting and implementing EMR and CDC systems in a healthcare organization is a positive outcome for patient care quality and safety. It is evident that information technology has the massive positive effect on patient care quality since there are an improved supervision and screening which has resulted in a decreasing medical error US (Med, 2008).
Practice Fusion (2017) argues that the other significant advantage is that the patient will be more satisfied with the adoption and usage of IT system. Patients who have physicians that use Electronic Health Records often love the notion that their health information is obtainable quickly when required. New development expected in the healthcare industry for the next two decades is that telemedicine will be adopted and used more as technology advances. Additionally, there have been new treatments that are being developed based on genetic tests which will further improve the quality of care.
Conclusion
The adoption and implementation of EMR/EHR within healthcare organizations are vital for its growth and overall improvement of healthcare. There has been a massive utilization of Electronic Medical Records in healthcare, due to numerous improvements in healthcare delivery. If Electronic Medical Records is adopted and implemented quality of care can be improved significantly. It is essential for the information technology to evolve to meet the rapidly varying demands of the healthcare organization efficiently. It has been established that primary Electronic Medical Records has enormous benefits to the patients and providers in many ways. The advancement of technology such as Electronic Medical Records has ongoing challenges in healthcare. Finally, when adopted efficiently, Electronic Medical Records will help to reduce overall errors, improve the communication between providers and patients and cut the cost of care provision thus making the process efficient.
References
Benefits of EHRs. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.healthit.gov/providers- professionals/electronic-medical-records-emr
Infinit Healthcare (2016). The Efficiency of Electronic Health Records. Retrieved from https://www.infinithealthcare.com/resource-center/electronic-health-records- efficiency/
Menachemi, N., & Collum, T. H. (2011). Benefits and drawbacks of electronic health record systems. Risk management and healthcare policy , 4 , 47.
Miller, R. & Sim, I. (2004). Physicians’ Use of Electronic Medical Records: Barriers and Solution. Retrieved from https://www.healthaffairs.org/doi/abs/10.1377/hlthaff.23.2.116
Med, L. J. (2008, March 1). The Impact of Electronic Medical records on improvement of health care delivery. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3074318/
memorialcare.org (2017). How Electronic Medical Records Reduce Costs and Improve Patient Outcomes. Retrieved from https://www.memorialcare.org/about/pressroom/media/how-electronic-medical- records-reduce-costs-and-improve-patient-outcomes-2010
Practice Fusion. (2017, January 01). EHR vs. EMR | Definition, Benefits and Usage Trends | Practice Fusion. Retrieved from https://www.practicefusion.com/blog/ehr-vs-emr/
