Summary and Critique

purpose of this paper is to review the electronic medical record and analyze its impact on

Possible benefits included positive patient outcomes as a result of improved quality of care, decreased medical errors, increase in financial revenue for organizations, better ability to conduct research, reduced cost of healthcare for patients, and an overall improvement in health for the general population (Menachemi & Collum, 2011). Disadvantages that were found in the review of literature included the initial cost to implement the electronic health record, continuing maintenance costs, and interruption in workflows that adds to the brief loss in productivity that occurs from healthcare providers having to learn a new system (Menachemi & Collum, 2011). There are also concerns about maintaining confidentiality (Menachemi & Collum,

The purpose of this paper is to review and summarize the literature on the pros and cons of electronic health record systems. This paper describes the many benefits of electronic health record systems, which include but are not limited to, less paperwork, increased quality of care, financial incentives, and increased efficiency and productivity. Organizational outcomes and societal benefits are also addressed. Despite the tremendous amount of benefits, studies in the literature highlight potential disadvantages of electronic health record systems. These disadvantages include privacy and security concerns, identity theft, data loss, financial issues, and changes in workflow, involving a temporary loss of productivity. Preventative measures that can be taken are addressed as well. Overall, people believe that the benefits of electronic health records can be realized when they are used correctly, and proper measures are taken to reduce any potential drawbacks.

Health Information Technology has increased efficiency; medical breakthroughs have increased life expectancy, cures, and improved preventive care. Benefits of EMR’s are the opportunities for improving health care efficiency, safety, health benefits and net savings, reducing hospital lengths of stay, nurse’s administrative time drug usage in hospitals and drug and radiology usage in the outpatient setting (Takvorian,2007). EMR’s will assist with research and quality improvement leading to rapid advancement in personalized medicine. It helps patients become more involved in their care (Takvorian, 2007).

According to the Department of Health and Human Services, by 2009, EMR adoption rate for a freestanding ambulatory surgery center (ASC) was 22.3 percent versus 62.4 percent for a larger hospital-based ASC. Further, the likelihood of installing EMR in freestanding ASCs was 63.6 percent versus 87.7 percent in hospital-based ASCs. These differences in the EMR adoption and installation rates were reported due to limited availability of capital funds and the number of practitioners. Usually, it is difficult for smaller centers to generate enough revenue for installing fully-integrated EMR systems. Moreover, solo or fewer practitioners practicing in small ambulatory care settings could not afford to support such expensive EMR installations. (“Factors Influencing..”, 2010). Hence, hospital affiliation can be a key contributing determinant towards EMR adoption

Making the switch to an electronic medical records system will help to bring forth health care advances with the systems data quality and availability. This research study uses focus groups and surveys to get the opinions of different health care providers and some patients on what they think EMR will do for the health care industry. Literature related to EMR was reviewed to get a better understanding of the benefits and barriers of electronic medical records. The study uses data from

Paul S. Martin, Twilight of the Mammoths: Ice Age Extinctions and the Rewilding of America, University of California Press, 2005, Prologue and Chapter 2

Administrative expenses have been seen through time not spent finding, filing, and retrieving patient charts. A reduction in employee time equals less money spent by the employer. Budget savings a seen through elimination of transcription, transferring, and transporting of patient charts. Billing components within EMR packages can provide cost savings through generation of direct billing and reimbursement; this process shows great potential for reduction in billing errors. Errors made during the billing/reimbursement process result in dollars lost or not recovered for the organization, which in turn drives up the cost of healthcare. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reported (in 2003) that a 10% error rate, regarding payments,

Implementing to electronic medical records has many benefits such as reducing medical record errors, accuracy, having medical record access immediately, reducing medication errors and improving patient care. Monetary incentives are given to providers who demonstrate meaningful use. For those who do not, they face reduction in reimbursement amounts. “In 2017, reduction in reimbursement is 3%.” (National Center for Medical Records, n.d.)

There is improvement in financial, administrative and management information, decrease in the duplication of the records, decrease in the repetitive lab tests, and reduction in the cost associated with hospital stays. A lot of money is saved by electronically storing and managing volumes of information [1]. ITAA believes that an industry-wide investment in IT of $18.1 billion would yield gross savings of greater than $120 billion dollars for the health care industry over a six-year period. [2] Many billing errors, coding inaccuracy have been reduced and as a result of this, there is enhancement in revenue.

Electronic medical records can benefit patients in many ways. One major way it can benefit a patient is the efficiency of the records being organized and easy for any practitioner or staff member to read. EMR can lower the risks of

Besides the disadvantages of (EMR)’s the advantages pose great benefits to patient care and efficiency. The greater use of electronic medical records or health records can reduce wait times, of seeing doctors or waiting for test results. All staff would need to cohesively work out the technical challenges and software data. With sophisticated IT

Instead of using paper based records, technology allows physicians to use the electronic medical record (EMR) that improves the quality of programs. By using the EMR, this is not easy nor is it low cost. Physicians’ have to use this method as their daily task. There are some barriers that has been identified with the use of the EMR by the physicians we will discuss. There will be some suggestions made that might can help the policy interventions to overcome the barriers. This will include the support system of work/practice including electronic clinical data exchange, and financial rewards for quality improvement. (Sim, 2004)

Electronic medical records (EMR) software is a rapidly changing and often misunderstood technology with the potential to cause great change within the medical field. Unfortunately, many healthcare providers fail to understand the complex functions of EMRs, and they rather choose to use them as a mere alternative to paper records. EMRs, however, have many functionalities and uses that could help to improve the patient-physician relationship and the overall quality of patient care. In order for this potential to be realized, both the patient and the healthcare provider must have a deeper understanding of EMR purpose and function. In this paper will highlights the historical developments and its potential effects on the patient physician relationship in order to

In 2005, HIMSS Analytics developed the eight-stage EMR Adoption Model. The model reflects the results of more than 5,000 institutions surveyed about their level of clinical system implementation and progress toward a paperless EMR (HIMSS, 2009). To progress through each stage of the model, capabilities within each stage must be operational and all lower stages must have been achieved before a higher level will be considered achieved (HIMSS, 2009).