...Reading Report I on EHR By Harah Koo In fulfillment of the requirements for HLIN 301 Introduction to Health Record Management Terri Rouse, M.A., RHIA. December 2, 2012 Summary The introduction of advanced technology has lead to a transition period. Coders mostly deal with paper records and therefore feel more comfortable coding diagnosis found on paper. The Electronic health record systems or EHR alters the job description of the coder since there are new steps taken depending on the software used or the health care facility. These steps require training and familiarity with the electronic process (Batres, 2012, 76). Therefore, the coder faces not only opportunities but challenges since the EHR significantly changes how things are coded (Batres, 2012, 76). These challenges bring benefits since coders are trained on how to use the EHR system to save resources. Currently, it takes longer for coders to code since they are not familiar with all the functions and navigating tools in the EHR which are needed to complete records for patients (Batres, 2012, 76). Because the EHR is new, coders are trying to familiarize themselves with finding documentation and using the information efficiently. With instruction, records are found quickly and coders can immediately code for diagnosis and procedures. According...
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...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, 2004 State of the Union address when, President Bush remarked, “by computerizing health records, we can avoid dangerous medical mistakes, reduce costs...
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...certified electronic health record (EHR) technology to help facilitate the process of broadening health IT infrastructures. The federal government views EHR system used in meaningful ways as the key to reforming the healthcare systems. Meaningful use of the EHR systems can also improve the overall quality of healthcare, insure patient safety, as well as reduce the cost of healthcare to individuals (Bigalke & Morris, 2010, p. 116). The responsibility of employing the new EHR Medicare and Medicaid incentive programs has been given to the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. CMS established and launched standards and managed the implementation specifications. CMS also oversaw the certification criteria, including the certification process for the EHR technology. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services also insured the safety of the patients by establishing privacy and security protections under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act (Burchill, 2010, p. 232). The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services provided incentive payments to eligible professionals and hospitals that are determined to be meaningful users of a certified EHR program. According to an article by Jones, Heaton, Friedberg, and Schneider (2011) incentives totals may add up to $27 billion dollars between the years 2011-2016. Implementing electronic health record systems (EHR) is simply not enough...
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...Electronic Health Records: Transforming Today’s Healthcare Abstract Electronic health records have been revolutionizing the healthcare industry by facilitating enhanced care and safety to the patients and potentially saving millions of dollars. The EHR is a longitudinal electronic record of patient health information compiled from all the different encounters that an individual comes upon in various different medical care settings and automates all the data, allowing providers to have all the information in one electronic record. Electronic health records have enormous benefits to offer the healthcare industry, an important one being that they are permanent and cannot be lost; however, it is imperative that all facilities take the time, effort, and resources to incorporate it into their systems. Electronic Health Records: Transforming Today’s Healthcare The electronic health record and the use of clinical informatics have made great strides in improving the quality of care we provide for the population and also saving the industry millions of dollars. “The EHR has the ability to generate a complete record of a clinical patient encounter - as well as supporting other care-related activities directly or indirectly via interface - including evidence-based decision support, quality management, and outcomes reporting.” (HIMSS, 2011) Nurses play an important role in helping to facilitate...
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...In contemporary healthcare, what is the role of information systems on productivity? Table of Contents Introduction 1 Literature review 2 Problem analysis and discussion 3 Electronic Health Records (EHR): 4 Computerized physician order entry (CPOE): 8 Conclusion 9 Recommendation 10 References 11 Introduction The healthcare industry is undergoing a drastic change in the modern world where the imprints of information technology (IT) are expanding and the combination of these two industries is leading to a new era of computerized hospital information systems. Baker (2008). The importance of information technology cannot be over emphasized for two major reasons, first, where a high level of accuracy is required (which can be fulfilled by digital mediums) and second, where a large size of transactional data exists and the requirement of analyzing this data supersedes (which can be fulfilled by having large databases and analyzing them using IT tools). There are numerous IT based applications in the environment and it has really become a challenge for the CTO of a healthcare facility to decide over the progressive plan for adoption of IT based systems in the purview of health information technology (HIT), computerized physicians order entry (CPOE), electronic health record (EHR) and many other similar programs found across the world. The primary question raised against any kind of IT investment is “how the proposed IT system will improve productivity...
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...Comparing and contrasting Sentara Health System 2010 and Eastern Maine Medical Center 2008 Davies Organizational Award Minerva Ndikum Medical Informatics 6208 DE PhD Philip Aspden This paper compares and contrasts eight different views of two winners of Davies enterprise award. The HIMSS Nicholas E. Davies award recognizes excellence in the implementation and use of health information technology, specifically electronic health records (EHRs), for healthcare organizations, private practices, public health systems, and community health organizations. The Award honors Dr. Nicholas E. Davies, an Atlanta-based practicing physician, president-elect of the American College of Physicians, and a member of the Institute of Medicine Committee on Improving the Patient Record, who died in 1991 in a plane crash. This paper will compare and contrast the eight difference, the process by which each organization decided to implement an EHR, the goals of each implementation, the governance process for planning and implementation and how stakeholders were involved in each case, the functionality that was implemented in each case, including clinical decision support tools and data sharing with external organizations, how security and data integrity issues were addressed in each case, how user satisfaction with the implementation in each case was addressed and give the results, and how each implementation’s success in meeting the original goals of Sentara healthcare...
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...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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...Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) Federal Health Information Technology Strategic Plan 2011 – 2015 Table of Contents Introduction Federal Health IT Vision and Mission Federal Health IT Principles Goal I: Achieve Adoption and Information Exchange through Meaningful Use of Health IT Goal II: Improve Care, Improve Population Health, and Reduce Health Care Costs through the Use of Health IT Goal III: Inspire Confidence and Trust in Health IT Goal IV: Empower Individuals with Health IT to Improve their Health and the Health Care System Appendix A: Performance Measures Appendix B: Programs, Initiatives, and Federal Engagement Appendix C: HIT Standards and HIT Policy Committees Information Flow Appendix E: Statutes and Regulations Appendix F: Goals, Objectives, and Strategies Appendix G: Acronyms ONC Acknowledgements Notes 3 6 7 8 21 28 36 49 51 65 67 70 74 77 77 78 Goal V: Achieve Rapid Learning and Technological Advancement 43 Federal Health IT Strategic Plan 3 Introduction he technologies collectively known as health information technology (health IT) share a common attribute: they enable the secure collection and exchange of vast amounts of health data about individuals. The collection and movement of this data will power the health care of the future. Health IT has the potential to empower individuals and increase transparency; enhance the ability to study care delivery and payment systems; and ultimately achieve...
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...Indian Health Services Program Erika Western Governors University * * * * The Indian Health Service (IHS) was established in 1955 as a federal agency within the Department of Health and Human Service. IHS primary responsibilities include providing health services to American Indians and Alaska Natives. The goal of IHS is to raise the health status of the Indian population to the highest possible level while providing health services to Indians from 566 Tribes across the United States. The mission of IHS is to raise the physical, mental, social and spiritual health of American Indians and Alaska Natives to the highest level. (“Agency Overview,” n.d.) * In order to support their mission in raising the health status to the highest possible level and to improve and protect the health of every community, the IHS facilities have chosen to participate in accreditation through the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). Accreditation through JCAHO provides many positive benefits and outcomes for the IHS. By seeking accreditation through JCAHO, the community and patients in the IHS system are able to recognize that IHS is committed to clinical quality. JCAHO accreditation sets standards on levels of quality assessment and quality improvement activities. JCAHO monitors programs that are in place within the organization and reviews policies and procedures to ensure life-safety standards are being met. The benefits to...
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...Meaningful Use Information Technology in Healthcare Mohammad Ali Torabi Meaningful Use In 2009 president Obama signed the Affordable Care Act, which is also known as ObamaCare, into law. ObamaCare is a national health care plan, which its main goal is to reform the American health care system so that every citizen would be insured by the year 2014. Healthcare providers are overwhelmed by the amount of patients they visit everyday due to the shortage of doctors we are having. One article from New York Times estimated that by the year 2025, America would be in shortage of 100,000 primary care physicians, based on the amount of doctors graduating and an increase demand of healthcare. Having said this, the atmospheric state in the healthcare environment can be described as barred linear unit in which everything within is in an incessant movement, whether it’s the personal, semantic role, and/or the application. In this crucial environment, access to patients’ medical record in a timely manner is essential in providing efficient and quality patient care. In a town meeting held in Northern Virginia Community College in Annandale, Va., President Obama called for fixing the inoperative healthcare system by investing in electronic medical records. President stated, “ I know that people say the costs of fixing our problems are great – and in some cases, they are”. He also stated that, “The costs of inaction, of not doing anything, are even greater. They’re unacceptable.” In an...
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...Using technology to Improve Patient Safety and Quality of Nursing Care Yelitza Guzman Walden University Information Management in Nursing and Health Care Nurs-3010-7 Dr. Annita Manns May 19, 2013 Using technology to Improve Patient Safety and Quality of Nursing Care The current severe shortage of nurses and health care workers contributes to an ongoing crisis in the US health care system that has many consequences. The inadequate number of qualify personnel in the care setting has a direct impact on the ability of nurses to deliver an appropriate level of care to their patients. Technology holds the promise of alleviating some of these problems by managing and organizing information that will facilitate the nurses, physicians and other members of the health care system to provide adequate and high quality of care. The purpose of this paper is to reflect on the issues of data quality, patient safety, and access to health care in relation to information technology. Data accuracy and safety Ensuring data quality and accuracy is the most important factor to guarantee that the use of health technology is successful. To have an optimal working system in an electronic record we should have the most accurate, up-to date, and complete database. Having accurate identification of the patient should be the first step when gathering patient information. This is a task that most times is initiated by triage or admission nurses. Nurses are knowledgeable workers who require the use...
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...Evolution of Health Care Information Systems Since the early 1980s, the U.S. health care system has experienced a rapid growth in the sector of health care information technology. This growth can be viewed as an attempt to standardize our fragmented health care system. The health care information technology is no longer an option but a necessity to be compliant with the mandated federal regulations. President George W. Bush in 2004 asked health care providers to implement Electronic Health Records (EHR) by 2014. The Joint Commission for the Accreditation of Health Care Organizations (JCAHO) and Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) also joined this initiative by asking health care providers to be compliant with the new legislation. Many community-based physician practices previously reluctant to embrace technology are realizing the benefits of the health care information systems, such as computerized physician order entry (CPOE), electronic medical records (EMR), tele-medicine, complex disease management, and automated billing systems. The purpose of this paper is to compare and contrast a contemporary health care facility with a health care facility of 20 years ago. Additionally, the paper will identify at least two major events and technological advantages that influenced the current health care information system (HCIS) practices. Definition of Health Care Information Systems Prior to discussing the evolution of HCIS in the last two decades, it would...
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...Executive Summary In the United States, it is a common knowledge that "the delivery of health care is primarily driven by the medical model, which emphasizes illness rather than wellness” (Shi & Singh, 2015, p. 73). Faced with issues like chronic illnesses, fragmentation, and population of baby boomers that affect the challenges of cost, access, and quality of care; it can be argued that the use of health information devices has positive impact on the delivery of healthcare. Since “the future of healthcare technology is now” (Glandon, Smaltz, & Slovensky, 2014, p. 27), developments in the production of healthcare information devices have been on the increase, popular, and widely used by patients and providers. Some of these devices, which include smart phones, computers, smart glasses like Google glasses, activities trackers, and wearable devices, have impacted and transformed the delivery of healthcare in ways that include cost of healthcare, access to healthcare, and quality of the care delivered. Introduction It is a common knowledge that developments in technology is continually changing, is responsible for globalization, helps with effective evaluation of business and decision-making, and enables the growth of information technology. Similarly, the areas of information technology and healthcare delivery are also presently active, developing, and constantly changing. As a result, the management of health information technology is currently enabling...
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...relies on the health information exchange (HIE) to conduct the exchange of electronic health information in a secure environment, is one of the key elements in getting all the disciplines across the industry to work together in building this national electronic network. Interoperability can be described by how data gets accessed and exchanged and the use of the exchanged data is shared between two or more information technology systems or devices (Naser, n.d.). The systems must be interoperable and share the data as usable knowledge. The health information exchange (HIE) is a process that allows health care professionals and patients to securely access and move clinical information among shared health information systems; while maintaining the integrity of information exchanged (HIMSS, 2014). Obviously, there are inherent risk in the process of exchanging data with the other systems and various groups if the exchange is not done in a secure manner while protecting patient confidence and privacy. All groups including clinical finance, admitting, even the software and medical vendors benefit greatly when data is exchanged securely and seamlessly. The health and human services (HHS) is in the stages of developing information exchange standards for interoperability and information exchange and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) is responsible for advancing the connectivity and interoperability of health information technology (HHS, 2014)...
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...TABLE OF CONTENTS Execusive Summary # INTRODUCTION # CHAPTER 2 # SECTION 2.1 # SECTION 2.2 # SUBSECTION 2.2.A # SUBSECTION 2.2.B # SUBSECTION 2.2.C # SECTION 2.3 # CHAPTER 3 # SECTION 3.1 # SECTION 3.2 # SECTION 3.3 # SUBSECTION 3.3.A # SUBSECTION 3.3.B # SUBSECTION 3.3.C Excusive Summary Numerous healthcare organizations are investing in the use of Epic Electronic Record (EHR) solutions to improve quality of patient care and efficiency. With the growing reliance on digital records for everything from patient test results to medical records to billing and HIPPA reporting, high level of availability Epic HER environment has never been more important. Epic creates and provides integrated software to health care organizations so they can take better care of patients by improving outcomes, enhancing the patient’s experience, and supporting research. All of Epic’s applications are built on a single database, providing an integrated solution that supports patient care and continuity throughout hospitals, clinics, and physician offices. Using these applications, health care organizations and professionals can access the appropriate patient information instantly whenever and wherever needed. Epic is privately held health care software company. In 1979 it was founded by Judith Faulkner. The company headquarters was in Madison, Wisconsin, but in 2005 the company moved to...
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