National Electronic Healthcare Record - Essay Example

To Blobel (2002), in order to maintain an efficient and high-quality care of patients, the status and processes related to patient’s health, either directly and indirectly, must be provided and managed. Such information, he says, would include medical observation, ward procedures, laboratory results, medical controlling, account management and billing, materials and pharmacy, and the like. As explained by Blobel (2002), inter-organizational virtual electronic healthcare records, in fact, can be built when health information systems within establishments converge to electronic patient record systems.

EHRs require that much, he says, but they enable healthcare establishments to build a basis for any communication and cooperation within and between themselves (Ibid). Lander and Daniel (n.d.).defines a virtual electronic health record (EHR) as a collection of individual records that reside in a variety of information systems and locations and on multiple types of media. It contains information from many health-related encounters and will collectively reflect the current health status and lifetime medical history of an individual.

There are many benefits that most healthcare professionals agree would ensue if the industry could finally implement a universal EHR. (Smith & Newell, n.d.). A lot of clinical and administrative benefits would be recognized then. As discussed by Smith & Newell (n.d.), there would be immediate and universal access to the patient record, easier and quicker navigation through records, no lost charts, and clinical data that is formatted to be easy to read and analyze. Further, there would be reduction of paperwork, documentation errors, and filing activities.

Considered would be coding efficiency and efficacy, alerts for medication errors, drug interactions, and patient allergies, including the ability to electronically transmit information to other providers. As to progress, EHR models are said to be still struggling towards