Abstract
The paper briefly discusses the significance of electronic medical records or EMR’s in health care industry. This paper primarily uses one source (Brooks & Grotz, 2010) for evaluating EMR.
Introduction
Electronic Medical Record (EMRs) is the latest method of documenting medical history of a person which helps to send and receive data electronically. It contains personal medical history, documentations, test results as well as medical and financial information related to a patient, subsequently helping the healthcare centers to provide better healthcare. President Obama sanctioned a stimulus to implement EMRs as it is can exponentially improve efficiencies and accuracy of healthcare services (Brooks & Grotz, 2010). Unfortunately, several health care employees are not welcoming electronic technology, also EMR can apparently decrease privacy of information. In the article, two healthcare units provided data and the author utilized this data for getting in-depth information on the effects of EMR implementation in healthcare centers.
The Main Issues
The problems of Electronic Medical Record implementation are complex and some of the issues highlighted in the article are -
EMR implementation is challenging and expensive where large hospitals needs to spend up to $60,000, hence the federal government has to spend $20 billion to reimburse the EMR implementation (Brooks & Grotz, 2010).
The implementation of EMRs requires business process reengineering, wherein the whole set-up of the healthcare provider will be modified for automation, however most employees working in the healthcare sector are not ready to accept changes and manage these changes (Brooks & Grotz, 2010).
The system also raises privacy issues at a time when most of the patients are looking for improved confidentiality (Brooks & Grotz, 2010).
Health Care Delivery and EMR
Electronic medical record (EMRs) will have great influence on the healthcare industry as it will keep the data records of demographics, medications, allergies, medical history, laboratory tests, immunizations, vital diagnostic signs and personal statistics (Poissant et al, 2005). This will assist doctors to understand the complete record related to the patients and additionally, it will help in improved decision-making and administration of appropriate medical cure to the patients. It will also reduce the cost of medical care, improve quality of care and promote evidence based medication.
EMR’s Impact on Health Care
As a whole, it is will automate and streamline the workflow of the health care industry as the processes will keep a complete record of the patient; thereby enhancing coordination, reducing disparities in healthcare, providing evidence based records, improving public health and providing complete privacy and security to the patient’s information (Poissant et al, 2005).
Effects of Medical Technology on Health Care Industry
The latest developments in EMR technology will help to a keep computerized order-entry, computerized allergy checks, generate prescriptions electronically and will help to get complete summaries related to the patient in least time which will make it easy to share a patient’s information between health-care organizations (Poissant et al, 2005). It will also support cross-border interoperability, accuracy, patient-satisfaction and availability of care; removing a number of intrinsic hassles in the health-care industry.
My Views
I agree that Electronic Medical Record implementation is expensive and its implementation is a complex process, but there are several benefits of EMR’s. Firstly, it will speed up the process through automation, improve accuracy, improve communication and enhance transparency thus helping hospitals and health-care organizations to provide improved health-care, ultimately improving the patient’s satisfaction level.
Conclusion
Today, technology is improving at a brisk pace and EMR is being widely used in healthcare industry to provide improved care. However, if health-care units continue with the outdated patient documentation methods, the communication gap between the patients and physician will potentially increase, hindering the physician from providing appropriate care. Therefore, the main aim of implementing EMR is to provide high speed primary care, accuracy and to greatly augment communication efficiency (Brooks & Grotz, 2010). With the latest developments in medical technology such as EMR’s, its imperative that health-care centers gradually integrate EMR’s to promote improved health care.
References
Brooks, R. and Grotz, C. (2010). Implementation of Electronic Medical Records: How Healthcare Providers Are Managing the Challenges of Going Digital, Journal of Business & Economics Research, Vol. 8 Issue 6, p73-84, 12p
Poissant, L., Pereira, J., Tamblyn, R., and Kawasumi, Y. (2005). “The Impact of Electronic Health Records on Time Efficiency Of Physicians And Nurses: A Systematic Review.” Journal of American Medical Informatics Association, 12:505-516.
