Introduction
The healthcare sector plays a crucial role in the society and promotes physical, social, and economic wellbeing of a country. Hence, health information should be well managed for better service. Advancements in technology have led to the emergence of various systems for managing client data. Key among these is the healthcare informatics technology.
What is EHR?
EHR stands for Electronic Health Records, an informatics system that allows access and evaluation of a wide pool of data entities ranging from a diverse spectrum. Data sources such as population-specific and non-patient information and articles can help generate the data entries. Moreover, data entities can be drawn from prescribable and controllable sources such as diagnostic imaging and clinical sources, which are part of the patient care path. Organization and analysis of the entities follows the domain framework. Additionally, these domain frameworks can be altered to suit the user’s informational needs and interests. The holistic understanding and integration of user factors, as well as refinement of healthcare processes, are key elements, which can enhance the provision of affordable and effective healthcare (Avinash, Liu & Roehm 2005).
A Vendor who can Accommodate EHR Needs of a hospital
The Organisation should get a vendor who can accommodate its needs. Inasmuch as the EHRs reduce cost to the patients, analysis shows that the physicians and healthcare providers tend to cushion much of the cost. Subsequently, the vendors of EHRs end up promoting the other features to the provider organizations to persuade them to buy their products. Simborg further explains that the features include the ability to save time in physician’s documentation and improvement of revenue for health care providers through higher Evaluation and Management codes (Simborg, 2008).
It is important for the Organisation to consider the ultimate cost, which it will incur in operating the EHRs as vendors can significantly misrepresent the real long-term cost. For instance, Simborg, 2008 explains that rather than decreasing healthcare costs, an increase of Evaluation and Management (E&M) codes eventually increases costs. This scenario arises from the consideration that the different features with which E&M is introduced and implemented. For instance, the features for enhancing the codes and saving on time for documentation are not the same for improving quality and reducing the healthcare costs (Simborg, 2008).
Heeks, R. (2006) proposed a conceptual model called ‘design-reality gap’ to determine the success and failure rates for Health Information Systems (HIS). Additionally, he vouched for its ability to provide the contingency that covers the discrepancies, which exist in various contexts of HIS. The model is also a tool for conducting risk assessment and for mitigating HIS projects.
Framework for Launching EHR
Vanderbush et al. (2007) discuss a framework to use in implementing EHR in the discipline of pharmacy in college curricula. This model can be quite resourceful in meeting the needs of the hospital if given slight modification. Firstly, according to Vanderbush et al., it is crucial for the users of EHR to exhibit competency in the use of EHRs. Hence, the Organisation should set up training and drills for the hospital staff on how to use the EHRs based on the quality standards. Secondly, the Organisation should provide technical and fiduciary support for the implementation of EHR at all levels. Further, the healthcare providers should be at the forefront in the selection the software and hardware, which can effectively meet the institutional, communal and public needs. They should be the leads in the promotion of distributive and robotic systems within the healthcare provision.
Options for Building a Personal Health Record
There are various models, which can be used to probe information contained in the integrated systems and develop personal health record. Examples of these systems are the grid computing, EAI, Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), workflow management among others. Most applications require combination of these techniques, arising from multi-disciplinary research and integration (Li, Ge, Zhou, & Valerdi, 2012).
The Framework for Personal Health Record
The framework for personal health record plays a key role in determining the efficiency of EHR. The Organisation can utilize the knowledge from other bodies to achieve success. For instance, the adoption of consolidated Health Information System (HIS) in Seoul National University Hospital improved the quality of healthcare and boosted the efficiency of healthcare management (Choi et al., 2010). The HIS consisted of Picture Archiving and Communication Systems (PACS), and Electronic Medical Records (EMRs and Computerized Physician Medical Entry (CPOE) also known as Order Communication Systems (OCS) in Korea. After the successful implementation of EMR in Seoul University, it sought to customize its system, taking a period of one year. The successful customization of Seoul’s University EMRs involved the development of close to three thousand novel medical record templates, procedure terms, revised diagnostic terms and corresponding codes. The codes and other implementing software were contributed by specialists of medical records (Choi et al., 2010).
Regional health information exchange
Simborg (2008) pointed out that in 2004; President Bush stated his government’s intention to have all American’s have a personal health record by 2014. Three years following the announcement, the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) set up the American Health Information Community (AHIC). Additionally, it also set the office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) as an oversight body to monitor the implementation of this goal. Further, DHHS appointed the Certification communions for Health Information Technology (CCHIT) and the Health Information Technology Standards Panel (HITSP) to establish and promote the standards for quality service (Simborg, 2008). The health Organisation can tap into the opportunities to establish a regional health information exchange system.
Conclusion
The EHR requires the concerted efforts of hospital personnel and the medical bodies and institutions for effective implementation. Organizations, which seek to implement healthcare informatics, should generate adequate information base and financial capacities to launch the system successfully. However, it is prudent for them to conduct apt cost and benefits analysis before embarking on it.
References
Avinash, G., Liu, R., & Roehm, S. (2005). U.S. Patent Application 11/284,855.
Choi, J., Kim, J. W., Seo, J. W., Chung, C. K., Kim, K. H., Kim, J. H., & Choi, S. H. (2010). Implementation of consolidated HIS: improving quality and efficiency of healthcare. Healthcare informatics research, 16(4), 299-304.
Heeks, R. (2006). Health information systems: Failure, success and improvisation. International journal of medical informatics, 75(2), 125-137.
Li, L., Ge, R. L., Zhou, S. M., & Valerdi, R. (2012). Guest Editorial Integrated Healthcare Information Systems. Information Technology in Biomedicine, IEEE Transactions on, 16(4), 515-517.
Simborg, D. W. (2008). Promoting electronic health record adoption. Is it the correct focus?. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 15(2), 127-129.
Vanderbush, R. E., Anderson Jr, H. G., Fant, W. K., Fujisaki, B. S., Malone, P. M., Price, P. L., & Williams, K. G. (2007). Implementing pharmacy informatics in college curricula: the AACP technology in pharmacy education and learning special interest group. American journal of pharmaceutical education, 71(6).
