EHR, Meaningful Use and HITECH in Improving Healthcare Delivery - Essay Example

"EHR, Meaningful Use and HITECH in Improving Healthcare Delivery" is a decent example of a paper on the health system.
Electronic health records responses
EHRs Benefits and drawbacks

Item

Rationale

Pros

Cons

Cost

Reduction in cost of healthcare positions providers in an excellent position to negotiate for managed healthcare contracts

EHRs help providers to save time as well as funds in many ways. Firstly it gets rid of the need and cost for warehouses to store paper-based records. Secondly, they can be stored for a very long period with no worsening of quality like the paper-based records, can hardly be damaged by disasters, and lastly can be accessed instantly by multiple users saving time and money ( Alpert, 2016).

EHRS is associated with costs aimed at reducing data breaches and cybercrime threats. Some of the measures meant to ensure the security of these records include the installation of firewalls to put malware at bay, training staff and users on ways of preventing unauthorized access, updating software from time to time to reduce its vulnerability to cyber-attacks. Other additional costs of EHRs include the purchase of software as well as hardware, maintaining the system, period of non-productivity as well as the conversion of paper records to electronic ones ( Alpert, 2016)

Patient data privacy and security

An increased volume of patient data exchanged electronically through HER systems between multiple stakeholders exposes it to unauthorized access.

Legislations enacted recently seeks to guarantee that patient data is safe and secure such as Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act as well as privacy and security policies. Measures put in place through policy formulation and legislation significantly reduce the likelihood of inappropriate access to patient data. All HER systems are supposed to include an audit function enabling operators to recognize every person who accesses each aspect of the record ( Alpert, 2016)

No EHRs is 100 percent secure, and this predisposes private patient data to cyber-attacks and breaches of data security. Such breaches expose healthcare providers to costly litigation when they do occur.

Patient data breaches may also lead to psychological effects on patients which may lead to worsening of their health condition ( Alpert, 2016)

Quality and productivity

Patients are always on the lookout for healthcare providers capable of offering a high quality of healthcare. Quality care ensures productivity which in turn leads to shorter lengths of stay for patients as well as a significant reduction in costs. in

HER are characterized by fewer redundancies, fewer recording mistakes, and reduced lengths of patient stay. As a result, providers are more likely to avert some billable transactions which could lead to reimbursements by third parties ( Alpert, 2016)

EHR systems may be associated with loss of productivity due to time lost for installing software as well as hardware, maintenance of the system, training staff and other users as well as the time spent in converting paper-based records to electronic form. Further time and money may be lost in litigation whenever data breaches occur, which will negatively affect the quality of service as well as the productivity of the healthcare facility. Medical errors are also associated with numerous deaths in the US as well as adverse health outcomes ( Alpert, 2016)

Meaningful Use stage 3 comprises of the conditions healthcare providers must attain to get their incentives besides evading penalties. The program requires physicians, including APNs, to attain eight objectives. This has been occasioned by the fact that several Americans die every year due to medical mistakes intensifying the demand for increased accountability in healthcare as well as improved communication. Among the objectives of stage 3, Meaningful Use is electronic prescribing as well as patient electronic access (Gold et al., 2016). Electronic prescribing requires APNs to have over 80% of their approved prescriptions probed for drug composition and conveyed to pharmacies through electronic means. Besides patient electronic access objective seeks to increase patient engagement by physicians by requiring that at least 80% of all patients be provided access to EHRs, which encompasses the ability to view and download their records.

Furthermore, physicians are required to offer the opportunity of requiring educational material to over 30% of the patients they attend (Gold et al., 2016) Meaningful Use stage 3's main purposes include increasing quality, safety, effectiveness, and productivity as well as health outcomes. As an APN, I am required to create and convey approved prescriptions using electronic means under the HER system. Prescription in the e-platform requires an APN to produce over 80% of accurate, understandable, and error-free electronic prescriptions and send them to pharmacies electronically (Waldren & Solis, 2016). My duties as a medical practitioner range from primary healthcare and preventive care as well as mental health to maternity and anesthesia. Therefore, to be able to use EHR systems to transmit e-prescriptions to pharmacies, a user-friendly platform having inept security features is required. Such a system should be able to detect apparent errors using an inherent correction functionality or provide hints regarding such errors (Waldren & Solis, 2016). Such functionality may help in minimizing errors resulting from fatigue, divided attention as well as ineffective training on the use of HER systems.

As an APN in clinical practice, I recognize that patient electronic access to data, including educational material is an essential way of improving healthcare outcomes. However, due to the varied nature of patients, one attends to from day to day, it may be challenging to achieve the set targets according to the Meaningful Use third stage objectives. Some of the patients may not be literate, may be unwilling or uninformed about the advantages of the program (Rathert et al., 2019). Therefore, adequate training of APN personnel, as well as patients to create awareness among patients as well as competency among APN staff, will go a long way in achieving the two outlined objectives of meaningful Use stage three.