Health Care Informatics - Electronic Health Records - Essay Example

Topic: Health Care Informatics Define Electronic Health Records (EHRs) and explain how EHR can be protected in situations such as hurricanes, floods, fires and natural disasters. Electronic health records are digital forms of the paper records for patients that are patient-centered and real time making access to information instantaneous and secure to users that are authorized. Even though it does not store the treatment and medical history of a patient, an EHR system is designed to address more than the standard clinical data and may include wide views of the care a patient is given (Amatayakul & Lazarus, 2005). EHR have can store the diagnoses, medical history, medications, dates of immunization, plans for treatment, allergies, results of tests as well as radiology images of patients. Additionally, they provide access to instruments that providers can utilize in decision making concerning the care of a patient while at the same time automating and streamlining the workflow of the provider. Among the main features of EHR is the creation and management of health information by authorized providers in a digital form that can be accessed by other providers in other health care organizations. The systems are developed to share information with other organizations and providers of health care including specialists, laboratories, pharmacies, schools, emergency facilities as well as workplace clinics among others (Amatayakul & Lazarus, 2005). Therefore, the information they contain is from all the clinicians that have participated in caring for the patient. Ultimately, EHRs provide protection against natural disasters as well as other dangers that may occur unexpectedly including floods, explosions and fires since the records are usually stored in databases in multiple locations and can be accessed with ease. Moreover, they allow the physicians to use their laptops, tablets and mobile phones from one room to the next or different locations while the employees who are on-call can log in through secure virtual private networks and get access to information on their patients. EHRs allow the providers along with the patients to get access to information required to reduce errors and improve the satisfaction and outcomes of the patients. Reference Amatayakul, M., & Lazarus, S. (2005). Electronic health records. Englewood, Co.: Medical Group Management Association. 2. List and explain in detail 3 advantages and 3 disadvantages of EHRs. Do not just list your answers. Advantages 1. Cost aversion Majority of the reduced costs linked to EHRs originate from efficiencies that result from having information on patients available electronically. The efficiencies include better test utilization, reduced resources for the staff in regards to management of patients, reduced cost of supplies required for maintaining paper files as well as reduced costs of transcription and costs associated with pulling charts. Using EHRs can greatly decrease redundant usage of tests or requirement to send hard copies through mail to various providers (Carter, 2008). Through ensuring information about patients is easily available, EHRs assist in reduction of costs associated with pulling charts and the supplies required in maintain paper charts. Research has also demonstrated that using EHR may lead to lower costs of transcription through point of care documentations along with other processes of creating documents. 2. Growth in revenue As far as EHRs are concerned, increase in revenue originates from various areas such as better charge capture and decline in errors associated with billing, better cash flow as well as improved revenues. Different studies have demonstrated that EHR helps providers to accurately capture patient charges on time, therefore, they are able to eliminate majority of the billing errors as well as inaccuracies in coding that will ultimately increase the cash flow of the provider and improve revenues. A decrease in the number of outstanding days in receivable, disallowable and lost charges on accounts can result in improvements in cash flow. Additionally, EHRs remind the patients along with the providers about health visits therefore increasing visits by the patients and increasing revenue. 3. Improved capacity for conducting research Storing patient data in an electronic manner can increase accessibility which may result in additional quantitative analyses towards easy identification of appropriate evidence best test practices. Additionally, researchers in the public health field are using clinical data in electronic form actively as they are aggregated in various populations with the aim of producing research that will benefit the society. Clinical data is not readily available but with the continued implementation of EHRs by providers, the pool of data has the potential to increase (Carter, 2008). Through blending the aggregated clinical data with additional sources like rates of school absenteeism and over the counter medication, researchers along with public service organizations will have the ability to track the outbreaks of diseases while improving surveillance of possible biological threats. Disadvantages 1. Financial issues, Issues such as costs of adopting and implementing EHRs, continuing maintenance costs, decline in revenues linked to temporary loss of productivity as well as decrease in revenue discourage hospitals as well as physicians considering the adoption and implementation of EHRs. Costs associated with implementation and adoption of EHRs include purchase and installation of software and hardware, conversion of paper charts to electronic format as well as providing training to the users. Research has shown that these costs are present in outpatient and inpatient environments. Nonetheless, the use of EHR has grown in the past few years and this has resulted in the initial cost of systems reducing significantly. 2. Disruption of work-flow for providers and medical staff EHR also disrupts workflows for providers and medical staff and this may lead to temporary declines in productivity that originates from users learning the new system and may possibly result in declines in revenues. There are studies that involve internal medicine clinics which approximate twenty percent decline in productivity in the initial month, ten percent in the subsequent month and five percent decline in the third month after which the productivity will return to its initial levels. 3. Risk of privacy violation for patients A risk of violations of the privacy of patients is also a possible drawback and continues to be an increasing concern as a result of the growing amount of health information that is transmitted through electronic means. In order to address a number of these concerns, policymakers have developed measures of ensuring privacy and safety of patient data (Carter, 2008). For instance, laws have created regulations that particularly govern the electronic transmission of health information thereby strengthening the security and privacy policies associated with HISPAA. Even though very limited electronic data is totally secure, the arduous requirements stipulated by the law will make it more challenging for electronic data to be accessed without proper authorization. For instance, every EHR system is supposed to contain an audit function which enables the operators to recognize all the people who have accessed all aspects of a specific medical record and numerous providers and hospitals are executing stringent and no tolerance penalties for workers who inappropriately access files. When EHR is completely exchangeable and functional, its benefits will be a lot more than those that can be provided by paper records as they are able to enhance convenience and quality for patients, increase the participation of patients in their care and improve the degree of accuracy of health outcomes as well as coordination and efficiencies to save costs. References Carter, J. (2008). Electronic health records. Philadelphia: ACP Press. 3. Explain in your own words how EHRs will improve each of the following: Improve quality and convenience of patient care Dependable access to all the health data associated with patients is critical for effective and safe care, and EHRs make complete and appropriate information concerning the medical history and health of patients accessible to providers. Through EHRs providers will be able to provide the most appropriate care at points of care and this may result in improved experiences for the patients as well as enhanced outcomes (Mennerat, 2002). Practices have also shown that EHRs use extracted reports on disease registries and patients in monitoring care for patients while at the same time improving the quality of discussions in clinical meetings. Increase patient participation in their care EHRs increase participation of patients through assisting providers to make sure they provide exceptional care as the providers will be able to provide accurate and full information to the patients concerning their medical evaluations. The providers also have the capacity to follow up on data after hospital stay including instructions for self-care, links to resources on the internet as well as reminders additional follow up care through creation of avenues for communication with the patients. The EHRs further enables management of appointment schedules through electronic means and emails with the patients as quick and simple communication may assist the providers to recognize symptoms on time. Improve accuracy of diagnoses and health outcomes EHRs allow the providers to get dependable access to the entire health information of a specific patient and this detailed picture can assist them to diagnose the problems faced by patients in a timely manner. They can also decrease the amount of errors while improving the safety of patients and supporting better outcomes for the patients (Mennerat, 2002). This is mainly because EHRs carry information and go further to compute it through manipulating it in a manner that will make a difference on the part of the patient. For instance, appropriate EHR stores records of medication prescribed to patients while routinely checking for issues that may arise when newer medications are prescribed in order to alert clinicians of the possible conflicts. Improve care coordination EHRs have the ability to decrease the division of care through enhancing the coordination of care through integrating and organizing the health information of the patients and facilitating instantaneous distribution to all the authorized providers engaging in care for the patient (Carter, 2008). For instance, alerts from HER can be utilized in ensuring that providers and notified in the event that a patient has previously been in hospital enabling them to make a proactive follow up of the patient. This is especially critical for patients seeing more than one specialist, being treated in emergency setting and transitioning between care settings among others. Increase practice efficiencies and cost savings EHRs are able to improve the management of medical practices through integrating scheduling systems which connect appointments with progress notes, automating codes and managing claims. They further increase practice efficiency through saving time using simpler centralized chart management, queries that are particular to conditions and other means that improve communication with other providers, health plan and clinicians among others. This enhanced communication is achieved through direct access to information on patients from various areas, monitoring of electronic information, automating formulary checks through health plans, ordering and receiving diagnostic images and lab tests and connecting to public health systems like registries and databases on communicable diseases. References Carter, J. (2008). Electronic health records. Philadelphia: ACP Press. Mennerat, F. (2002). Electronic health records and communication for better health care. Amsterdam: IOS Press. 4. How are EHRs stored and maintained so that patient confidentiality is maintained? The HIPAA rule in security stipulates particular measures to protect health information that is protected electronically in order to make sure it is secure, confidential and has integrity. Some of the safety measures that are integrated into EHRs with the aim of safeguarding medical records may include tools to control access such as PIN numbers and passwords to restrict accessibility to patient information and allow only the authorized people such as nurses and doctors to access it (Tan, 2005). Stored information may also be encrypted to make sure that it is not read by unauthorized people. Reference Tan, J. (2005). E-health care information systems. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. 5. How does a Personal Health Record (PHR) differ from an Electronic Health Record (EHR)? EHR are designed to go past the standard clinical information that is gathered by the provider and include wider aspects of the care of the patient. They store information from all the individuals engaged in caring for the patients and all the clinicians who are allowed to access the data so that the patient can be cared for (Zaleski, 2009). On the other hand, PHR store similar forms of information like those contained in EHRs but are intended to be developed and accessed under the management of the patients who can utilize PHRs in maintaining and managing their health information in secure, private and confidential settings. Reference Zaleski, J. (2009). Integrating device data into the electronic medical record. Erlangen: Publicis Pub. 6. According to Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) more than 50% of practicing physicians will not meet the 2015 deadline of achieving the Meaningful Use guidelines of implementing an EHR system. Do you think Federal penalties should be imposed? Why / why not? Federal penalties should be imposed on practicing physicians who are not keen on meeting the deadline for achievement of Meaningful Use guidelines in regards to implementation of EHRs. The recent efforts by the government under the HITECH Act, particularly the practical use of EHR as well as standards for satisfying EHR have created expectations of significant increases in months and years to come. Meaningful use standards direct the manner in which the eligible hospitals and providers are supposed to utilize EHR technology while the criteria for certification dictate the aptitudes that should be possessed by EHRs so that they can be used meaningfully (Eichenwald, Petterson & Wapola, 2014). Therefore, failure to meet the deadlines that have been set should be penalized as the initiative is supposed to be a source of improvement. Reference Eichenwald, S., Petterson, B., & Wapola, J. (2014). Using the electronic health record in the health care provider practice. Clifton Park, N.Y.: Delmar. 7. Define mHealth and explain how it affects patients and health care providers? Be specific? M-health is a word that refers to public health and medicine practice that is supported through mobile devices and is typically used when referring to usage of mobile communication devices like tablets, PDAs and smartphones for health information and services (Ciaramitaro, 2012). M-health applications entail usage of mobile devices in collection of clinical and community health data, delivering information on healthcare to providers, patients and researchers and instantaneous tracking of vital signs of patients as well as directly providing care. This field functions on the principle that integration of technology in the health sector has significant potential of promoting improved health communication in order to achieve health lifestyles, improve quality of healthcare through making medical health information accessible and facilitation of instant communication in area that did not have it before. According to m-health, adopting the use of technology can assist in reductions in the cost of health care through improvement of efficiencies and promotion of prevention in health care systems. Reference Ciaramitaro, B. (2012). Mobile technology consumption. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference. Read More