Benefits and Challenges in the Implementation of Electronic Health Records - Essay Example

Implementation of the new EHR systems requires the incorporation of older records into the patient’s electronic health record. One of the strategies involved in the incorporation of old records is scanning older documents and including them in the system in the image format. However, studies by Ventres et al., (124–31) affirm that most physicians do not prefer the inclusion of scanned images in electronic systems. They prefer full electronic data-based systems because most scanned images are normally unclear; therefore difficult to read. The problem can be resolved through the development of EHR systems with image archival characteristics for converting the scanned documents into full electronic health records. The written records can also be converted into electronic formats through scanning the documents and then performing the Optical Data Recognition (OPR). Accurate recognition may not achieve the required clarity levels while illegible handwriting is poorly recognized by the optical character readers. This leads to the formation of records that are difficult to read. The most successful strategy is making the state’s database records available for transfer through downloading into individual health records.
Privacy. Currently, health records are vulnerable to transmission and exchange over the internet. The rule for access, storage, auditing, authentications and transmission of medical records are contained in the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) (Zaroukian 53-55). Although the restrictions are geared towards promoting the privacy of these records, concerns over the adequacy of the implementation of these standards exist. According to Zaroukian (56), implementation of the privacy regulations can only be achieved through enhancing cooperation between the public, health providers and service providers. The privacy concerns are the prominent challenge stalling the implementation of the EHR systems. This is because legal restrictions require that medical records can only be exposed under court orders.