...Business Research Report Benefits of an Electronic Health Record Assessment Code: RWT1 Student Name: Student ID: Date: Mentor Name: Table of Contents Executive Summary 3 Introduction 5 Research Findings 5 Opportunity for Financial Incentives 5 Improved Quality of Patient Care 6 Increased Productivity and Efficiency 7 Recommendations 8 Conclusion 9 References 11 Executive Summary The benefits of successfully implementing an electronic health record are both vital to the future of our business as well as rewarding. The purpose of this report is to clearly demonstrate the need for implementation of an electronic health record and provide explanation of the benefits available to us with successful implementation. . The three main benefits I will be presenting research on are the financial benefits of an electronic health record, the ability to provide better quality patient care and the opportunity to increase productivity and efficiency through implementing an electronic health record. There are significant financial incentives for implementing an electronic health record and meeting Medicare and Medicaid’s requirements for meaningful use. Eligible providers can earn up to $44,000 through the Medicare EHR Incentive Program and up to $63,750 through the Medicaid EHR Incentive Program. There are three stages involved in meeting meaningful use the first stage consists of data capture and sharing, the second involves advanced clinical...
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...Computer Based Medical Records Abstract In the medical field there have been a lot of technological advances and making health records electronic is one of them. The days of having a paper health record are almost obsolete. An electronic health record keeps a patient’s medical information and history on a computer which is accessible to more people in less time. I will explain how the continuity, communication, coordination and accountability of the electronic health record can help the medical office. I will explain what can be included in the electronic health record. As an advocate of the electronic health record I will also explain some disadvantages to the electronic system. Computer Based Medical Records Electronic health records are taking over the paper medical records in doctors’ offices and hospitals everywhere. Electronic health records will help physicians with the continuity of care of their patients. The communication between different doctors and hospitals and also within the office is much faster and easier. Coordinating the electronic health record is much easier. The system is laid out in ways that makes it easy to use and document and also find information when needed. Finally, the accountability of the system is excellent. The electronic health record will help physician’s continue care with their patient’s in a lot of different ways. The electronic systems allows for easy access and sharing of patients health records. (Chheda, 2005) A patient...
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...Electronic Health Records (EHR) | | Technology & Society | | EHR Electronic Health Records (EHR) is an official health record for an individual that is shared among multiple agencies and facilities. Digitized health information systems are expected to improve efficiency and quality of care and, ultimately, reduce costs. EHR’s contains Contact information, Information about visits to health care professionals, Allergies, Insurance information, Family history, Immunization status, Information about any conditions or diseases, A list of medications, Records of hospitalization, and Information about any surgeries or procedures performed. (Rouse, 2011) (Holt, 2003) There are a wide variety of benefits that comes along with EHR’s such as there are essential to increasing the quality of health care and improving patient safety. The benefits range from information integration to increased efficiency of clinical processes. These benefits impact physicians, patients and the medical community as a whole. For patients EHR care providers the information they need to ensure that their patients receive the most appropriate, timely and efficient medical care possible, which will reduces medical errors and duplication of services. These tools include drug information, patient history, clinical guidelines and screening recommendations. EHRs increase screening and preventive care and reduce complications, including drug errors. (Rouse, 2011) (Holt, 2003) Physician and Medicare...
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...communication and is done by the use of wireless phones, text messages, social media, and emails. In health care organizations the use of technology is becoming more popular. According to University of Phoenix Communication and Information Technology (2009), In the 1990s health care organizations have struggled with technology to figure out its purpose in health care. Communication and computer based information technologies are used throughout health care organizations to improve and change the structure of health care delivery, and to increase the quality of care that patients receive. There are many different types of information technologies that are used in various health care organizations. This paper will only be presenting one information technology that is used in many health care organizations, which is Electronic Medical Records or EMR. It will also discuss how efficient and effective communication is with EMRs, the advantages and disadvantages of EMRs, the affect it has on consumers, the short term and long term financial impact, and improvements that could be made in the future. Electronic Medical Records Electronic Medical Records or EMRs are computer based medical records that allow health care organizations such as hospitals and doctors’ offices to store, retrieve, and modify patient’s health information. Health care organizations who need to obtain patients health information for billing, appointments, or scheduling can do so in a faster and easier way by using...
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...Electronic Medical Records Project Charter CMGT/410 July 28, 2012 Project Name: Implement Electronic Medical Records Prepared by Team C Date: 7/28/2012 ELECTRONIC MEDICAL RECORDS DEPLOYMENT Project Manager: Jim Forgath, CIO Project Administrator: Theresa Burke, Project Management Office BACKGROUND: Good Health Medical Services opened its doors in 1997. The company started out with just one primary physician and one specialty physician, which was an Obstetrician/Gynecologist to assist with the women’s health. The company was slow to start up and therefor manual record keeping was not a problem. The head receptionist was able to maintain the records in a timely fashion and was able to keep records up to date. Good Health Medical Services has grown over the years from seeing an average of twenty patients a week to over two hundred patients a week. The staff has also grown and now has over ten specialty physicians that range from Pediatrics to Oncology. The record keeping staff has grown as well going from one person to three people. There have been several cases of misfiled information or lost or missing files and the directors want to lessen some of these factors, save money and move into the current technology world of Electronic Medical Records (EMR). Purpose/ Business Need: The directors feel that there are several benefits to be had by moving from paper files to electronic files. The benefits of EMR are less paper files...
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...Health Information systems Week 4Assignemnt1 Nicole Hartman-Lacerna Professor. Ford 07/25/014 In the health care field and throughout organizations they all do things a little differently and different times as well I feel that when it goes to dealing with electronic medical records every physician and organization has there pros and cons with going this route. They are skeptical of how this will affect not only themselves, but the patients that care for and provide service to. Obama set standards saying that doctors and practices would be reimbursed for using electronic methods because it was the best and safest alternative to paper filing and records. I think that many doctors steer away from this because although the cost of having it set up and paying to keep it maintained is nothing compared to the money that they make, but having to hire those that can use the systems, and taking the time to train them, a and learning themselves and maintaining that they would also be having to take time away from their patients to deal with a new system and adjusting to the processes, but if they did once learned it would be something that all would benefit from they just don’t all see the big picture on that. Another reason that I feel that this isn’t used more is the ease of using it, in researching this I have seen that more and more physicians say that easing into this is far more difficult then they anticipate, and that they are equipped to deal with and it...
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...such flow. The medical field is starting to transition paper charting into an EMR (Electronic Medical Record) database system that is purchased by the company. My wife’s work is going live with Epic on March 1, 2013. Epic is a brand of an EMR system. According to Health Worldnet, EMR’s have several benefits; however, it has a few worry-some risks. The benefits are standardizing charting, reduction of errors, save resources, and reduce missing documents. The downsides are less opinionated charting and patient privacy. Key benefits The EMR will bring charting standardization and reduces errors within the facility. With paper charting health care providers made errors because of poor penmanship and non-standardized terminology. With the EMR’s categorized approach eliminates most of this issue. The EMR still has a couple of spots with the text box for notes, but there will not be any issues with spelling or penmanship. The health care providers will only have to worry about deferring terminologies. The EMR will also save resources and lower the risk lost documentation. The EMR stores and saves data to a server that allows health care providers access to the patient’s digital medical record. This will prevent the loss of documentation from a paper chat due to spillage or pages not attached and falling out of the chart. The EMR also consolidates all of the patient’s medical records for the facility. With paper charting records are located all over the facility. It takes a lot of...
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...Communication & Information Technology Paper University of Phoenix HCS/320 Health Care Communication Strategies Jada Harmon May 28, 2012 Electronic Medical Records (EMR) “is records about patient care that are kept on a computer rather than on paper, the traditional medium for patient histories. These records can include extensive information about a patient's general health, current and past illnesses and medical conditions, diagnostic test results and treatments and medications prescribed. Often, electronic medical records also include an application for prescribing and ordering medication.” (E How Health, 1999-2012) The history of EMR’S begin in the 1960’s when a doctor named Lawrence L Weed was the first to think of a theory to program and restructure patients medical records for the doctors use furthering to improve patient care. In 1967 Dr. Weed worked on a program called PROMIS (Problem Oriented Medical Information System) this was the basis to get the automated Electronic Medical Records started. This aspiration was to develop a system so that would administer timely and chronological patient information to the doctor to quickly collected information of the patient for medical purposes. During the 1970’s and 1980’s is when the Electronic Medical Records really begin to be used by hospitals by the 1990’s arrived with the progression of computers and diagnostic software Electronic Medical Records are used more increasingly. In today’s technology world time...
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...2 A. Increase in Quality of Care Electronic Medical Records (EMR) can increase quality of care in many ways. Unlike paper records, EMR is available to multiple members of the healthcare team in different locations, all at the same time. EMR makes it easy for caregivers to have all of a new patient’s previous visit information at their fingertips, which can help with obtaining a more accurate history upon admission. An accurate history will help caregivers make better decisions when planning a patient’s care. Because records are stored in a database instead of on paper, they are safe from natural disasters, forgery, loss, or damage. Many, many years of records can be stored in a relatively small space, which will negate the need for rows and rows of filing cabinets, and microfiche. This makes them easier to manage and retrieve. Less paper also means neater workspaces and better organization in the workplace, and because records are available on the database from multiple locations, the need for faxing or mailing records is decreased, increasing security. EMR can also be used to collect data for Quality Improvement processes, and an EMR system can have pop-up alerts built in to notify caregivers of best practices, allergies, and drug interactions. EMR’s that also have a medication bar code scanning system built in will help to reduce med errors by alerting nurses to wrong patient/wrong dose/ wrong time errors. Electronic Medical Records can reduce patient’s wait times, because...
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...EMR Research & Opinion Paper Produced by: Jeremy Averella EMR Course Fall 2013 EMR Research & Opinion Paper Produced by: Jeremy Averella EMR Course Fall 2013 TABLE OF CONTENTS I. Advantages of EHRs 2 a. Cost Containment 2 b. Empowerment 3 c. Improved Communication 4 d. Less Waste 4 e. Compliance 5 II. Disadvantages of EHRs 6 a. Lack of Standardization 6 b. Security & Privacy Concerns 7 c. System Infrastructure Issues 8 d. Risk of Liability and Patient Uncertainty 8 III. EHR Technology 9 a. EHR Benefits 10 b. EHR Types 11 c. EHRs Future Evolution 13 d. EHR Technology versus Handheld SMART devices 14 IV. Trends and Consequences 15 a. Aggressive Implementation 16 b. High Costs 16 c. Labor Investment 17 d. Opportunity Cost 17 e. Impact on Researchers, Policymaker and Educators 18 V. Final Opinion 19 VI. Bibliography 22 VII. Appendix I 28 VIII. Appendix II 31 I. Advantages of EHRs In an effort to reign in rising health care costs and increased health care disparity and inequality in the U.S., former president George W. Bush doubled the funding for Health Care Information Technology to 100 million in 2005 (The White House). It was part of a larger plan to utilize latest information technology to standardize patient and health records, which despite spending 1.6 trillion dollars, attributed to 98,000 medically related errors in 2004. The plan was part of his campaign promise and was reiterated in his January 20...
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...protect patient privacy and what are the regulatory ramifications in the US on EMR implementation?” Table of Contents: INTRODUCTION LITERATURE REVIEW ANALYSIS I. MEDICAL RECORDS THEN AND NOW A. Paper-Based Medical Records VS. Electronic Medical Records B. Benefits, Potential Problems and Cost of the EMR II. HEALTH CARE PRIVACY LAW A. HIPAA 1.What is HIPAA? 2. HIPPA Privacy & Security B. HIPAA and EMR III. CAN ANYTHING BE DONE TO PROTECT PATIENT CONFIDENTIALITY/ PRIVACY? A. Why Should Patient Privacy Be Afforded Privacy Protection Regulation? B. Patient Privacy Within EMR IV. SPANNING THE MILES Intranet & Extranet Software & IM/IT CONCLUSION GLOSSARY REFERENCES Introduction: Healthcare companies all over the world are slowly recognizing the benefits on an EMR. Although EMR’s were implemented over 30 years ago but as of 2006 fewer than 10% of hospitals were utilizing the system. In 2009 the he U.S. Department of Health and Human Services enacted a privacy rule under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) in an attempt to protect the privacy of patients medical records. But one question still arises; “Does the EMR actually protect patient privacy and what are the regulatory ramifications in the US on EMR implementation?” In this paper I will address EMR, patient privacy and the regulatory ramifications of EMR implementation. Literature Review The literature shows that there is still a lot of concern with...
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...Electronic Health and Medical Record in Home Health Nathaniel J. Reid University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee HCA: 700 Abstract The purpose of this paper is to examine the electronic health record (EHR) and electronic medical record (EMR) in the home health setting in the United States. “EHR” and “EMR” are often used interchangeably. However, this paper will discuss the differences between an EHR and an EMR. It will cover the benefits and disadvantages of the EMR in the home health setting. This paper will also cover the potential costs associated with the use of the EMR in the home health setting. Finally, the paper will discuss the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) of an EMR in home health. Outline I. Introduction a. Purpose b. Explanation of terms II. Background a. Home Health Care i. What is it ii. History iii. How it is changing b. Health Informatics in Home Healthcare i. History of informatics in HHC ii. Current use of informatics in HHC iii. Benefits of informatics in HHC III. Comparison of EMR/EHR a. Definitions b. Settings used c. Differences d. Similarities IV. Implementation of the EMR in Home Health a. Feasibility b. Cost c. Equipment d. Staff Acceptance V. Conclusion a. Summary of...
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...era of electronic support systems in how health care records are stored and the people that manage them. This combination of people and systems are vital to the industry standards and how companies across the United States will utilize them to manage electronic health records in and out of clinical settings. Healthcare records at the majority of clinics in the U.S. are currently stored on paper and not electronically, which can create inefficiencies with labor, care and actual timeliness to transfer care from one office to another. Specialty doctors normally require information from primary care physician offices to continue care on patients that are much needed. Computerized physician order entry is an extremely important part of the process when it comes to launching an EMR system. The capabilities of using this type of order entry will allow physicians to enter and record accurate patient medications and diagnoses necessary for treatment of each of their individual patients. Another great capability of upcoming EMR systems is the ability of physicians to use voice recognition software that will allow them enter information from medication to diagnoses and findings verbally. There is a wide variety of EMR systems that can be utilized and maintained by one or two IT professionals in both large and small clinical settings. Utilizing a system that allows physicians to record health information will cut back on costs that occur from errors or wait time when medical records are being...
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...folders and papers devoted to the storage of medical records. Every time you visit, your records are created or modified, and often duplicate copies are generated throughout the course of a visit to the doctor or a hospital. The majority of medical records are currently paper-based, making these records very difficult to access and share. It has been said that the U.S. health care industry is the world’s most inefficient information enterprise. Inefficiencies in medical record keeping are one reason why health care costs in the United States are the highest in the world. In 2012 health care costs reached $2.8 trillion, representing 18 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP). Left unchecked, by 2037 health care costs will rise to 25% of GDP and consume approximately 40 percent of total federal spending. Since administrative costs and medical recordkeeping account for nearly 13 percent of U.S. health care spending, improving medical recordkeeping systems has been targeted as a major path to cost savings and even higher health care quality. Enter electronic medical record (EMR) systems. An electronic medical record system contains all of a person’s vital medical data, including personal information, a full medical history, test results, diagnoses, treatments, prescription medications, and the effect of those treatments. A physician would be able to immediately and directly access needed information from the EMR without having to pore through paper files. If the record holder...
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...what are its main characteristics and potential benefits to a hospital. How did these influence the decision to adopt an EMR at SHC? What other reasons were influential? EMR: - EMR stands for electronic medical record. It is primarily employed at an institution that provides health care facilities i.e. at a hospital or at a physician’s clinic. Its primary purpose is to improve the communication among different departments of a hospital to increase productivity, to minimize errors and to improve customer care. Main Characteristics: - One of the main characteristics of EMR is its cohesive bond with information and technology (IT). The reason for employing IT is to make sure that all the organizational information stored in hospital’s mainframe can be communed to particular departments, which need particular information. Of course this approach takes technical expertise of people associated with IT and additional expenses, but on the bright side it decreases all the other costs i.e. cost of paper based information system. Thus, decreases the errors and mishaps by a considerable margin and saves a lot of time that can be utilized in other areas of the hospital to increase productivity. Potential Benefits of EMR: - Time Saving: EMR is most beneficial when it comes to time saving. In times of recession, where many hospitals are closing down or going bankrupt, EMR comes as life saver in maintaining and obtaining patient records. It is particularly helpful in times of quarantine...
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