electronic health records

Electronic Health Records: The Eight Things You Should Know:

Electronic Health Records: The Eight Things You Should Know By Rebecca Winchester

Definition:

Definition A systematic collection of electronic health information about individual patients or populations in a digital form. A lot of information is contained within these records.

History:

History Some sources indicate that medical records were first developed by H ippocrates. The first EHRs began to appear in the 1960s By 1965, approximately 73 hospitals had some type of IT system in place.

8 Things You Should Know:

8 Things You Should Know Expensive Implementation Quality Improvement Increased Mobility Promote Evidence-Based Medicine Privacy Issues Technical Issues Long-Term Preservation and Storage of Records Long-Term Cost Savings

Expensive Implementation:

Expensive Implementation Hospitals negotiate contracts with EHR companies. Implementing EHRs cost mid size health systems such as spectrum health between 5 and 10 million dollars. Linking all the health systems across the country would cost around $150 billion. The federal government tries to lower these costs by giving grants to hospitals

Quality Improvement:

Quality Improvement One of the main goals of implementing an EHR is to reduce medical errors. If a doctor prescribes a prescription that a patient is allergic to the system will alert the physician of the error.

Increased Mobility:

Increased Mobility Physicians often struggle to complete their notes on each patient while they are in the office. Electronic records allow physicians to access patients records virtually anywhere. Including their homes via secure systems Transferring patients records becomes easier

Promote Evidence Based Medicine :

Promote Evidence Based Medicine EHRs will make so much medical data available that researchers will be able to conduct studies with more complete and relevant results than ever before The studies will likely lead to medical advances at a rate much faster than any time in history The biggest benefits will come when EHR systems become interconnected

Privacy Issues:

Privacy Issues Medical records are accessible to a lot of people throughout health care organizations from doctors and nurses to technicians and billing clerks. The same security risks associated with data transactions over the internet persist. The medical community believe the use of logins and passwords will make it easier to track breaches of security

Technical Issues:

Technical Issues Software maintenance issues Each computer in every health system must have the EHR software installed The lack of interconnectivity

Long-Term Preservation and Storage of Records:

Long-Term Preservation and Storage of Records Current long term storage systems are inefficient and often involve off site storage EHR systems allow for the long term storage of records within computers. Having old records readily accessible will contribute to the reductions in the medical errors and overall costs that are associated with the external storage and retrieval of paper records

Long-Term Cost Savings:

Long-Term Cost Savings The United States Congressional Budget Office stated that long-term cost savings may only occur in large integrated health organizations. These savings can come from Accurate coding A reduction in medical errors A reduction in medication errors The amounts of savings are disputed but most experts agree that savings will be realized long term

Conclusion:

Conclusion Electronic Health Records are having a massive impact on the way medicine is practiced in the United States and around the world. Despite the high cost of implementation, health care organizations are purchasing EHR systems in the hopes of improving their clinical outcomes while saving money long term. This will ultimately help them fulfill their missions.

Sources:

Sources Electronic Health Records Overview http://www.ncrr.nih.gov/publications/informatics/ehr.pdf Report Estimates Costs of National EHR Implementation http://www.hospitalbuyer.com/industry-market/trends/report-estimates-costs-of-national-ehr-implementation-2696/