EHR: Revolutionizing Healthcare Through Access, Safety, and Satisfaction - Essay Sample

Introduction

The future of healthcare relies entirely on the efficiency in medical activities. The benefits of EHR include the ease of access to information by the facility, safety of documents, and records and satisfaction of stakeholders (IOM, 2001).In most countries, the adoption of electronic health records has been encouraged and implemented. These include the facilitation of patients' records for ease of access, quick retrieval of billing records, and also running of departments in the health systems. Hospital Information Systems are essential in enhancing healthcare functions.

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Different stakeholders within the healthcare facility need an efficient system to help them efficiently perform. Board members of an organization are critical stakeholders in the implementation of electrical health records. They must analyze the costs and benefits of the system to approve it. On the other hand, the Chief Executive Officer needs electrical health records to efficiently discharge a patient. The electrical health records will provide the CEO with an update on a patient's health, which will help in avoiding cases of readmission, which makes health facilities to incur high costs. Patients tend to visit several or the same hospitals for the same reasons due to the lack of a proper EHR system (Li et al., 2001). Its cost mainly hinders its adoption, a function mandated to the directorate of financial services. Further, electrical health records implementations tend to increase turnaround time for processing claims. Healthcare facilities need to allocate more capital in developing electrical health records.

Pharmacy operations also highly need EHR. The pharmacy faces a lot of challenges during the distribution of drugs to units in the healthcare facilities. Overstocking and mismanagement of medication is one issue that has been difficult to control. Billing of drugs is also tricky. The pharmacy is allocated about 13% of the hospital's total budget, which makes it a fundamental unit (Simon et al., 2007). However, despite the advantages that come along with EHR; there are important factors that hinder its implementation.

On the other hand, EHR implementation has also enhanced clinical services, while it has also disrupted workflow. Studies that have been recently carried out suggest that EHR enhances productivity, and workflow is an essential factor to be considered. Nursing officers need EHR to analyze patients' portal and check whether the patients have booked appointments or if they have any inquiries. EHR offers consumers and clinicians with a lot of advantages (Wang et al., 2003). For consumers, EHR allows access to quality data, whereas, for clinicians, it enhances the flow of work in the hospital and facilitates the quality of healthcare and safety of patients. Besides, EHR may also help in building transparency from the perspective of the consumer. It allows patients to have good knowledge of their health conditions. Due to the penalties imposed by the Centre for Medicare and Medicaid Services on readmissions, hospitals need to avoid such cases at any cost. The patient portal would help to reduce instances of readmission by allowing patients to view their information and make appointments or enquiries.

The nurse manager requires EHR to track hospital admissions and daily census information. The EHR would help to reduce the cost of labor which is incurred during nurses' overtime. The reduction of overtime may help in saving a lot of funds annually. Clinicians offer significant input in the EHR implementation process as they are at the frontline of providing healthcare services. The biggest challenge faced by the emergency department is the preparation of accurate and timely reports. There is a need for a healthcare information system that facilitates clinical, financial and patient satisfaction. It would help in cutting costs in the ordering of drugs; reduce time spent to file billing claims and also time spent in performing procedures. A sound healthcare information system should enable hospitals to save without introducing more burdens to the staff. Carrying out unnecessary lab tests increases workload done by Laboratory technicians and also increases the amount of waste. Reducing waste could save the hospital in incurring waste disposal expenses.

The EHR enhances healthcare services in a wide range as shown by various stakeholders. It helps in cutting costs by a great margin, enhances communication through various departments, improves healthcare quality and also assists in significant decision-making strategies. All over the world, there is increased proof that the adoption of HIT has led to the improvement in the quality of services offered in healthcare facilities (Yasnoff et al., 2006). This is seen through the ever-increasing budgets allocated to healthcare and health insurance packages. Over the years, many countries, through their governments, have continued to encourage the use of EHR and to allocate more resources to developing their national healthcare infrastructure.

References

Li, Y.C., Kuo, H.S., Jian, W.S., Tang, D.D., Liu, C.T., Liu, L., Hsu, C.Y., Tan, Y.K., Hu, C.H. (2001) Building a generic architecture for medical information exchange among healthcare providers. International Journal of Medical Informatics, 61(2-3), 241-246.

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) (2001). Crossing the Quality Chasm: A new health system for the 21st century. National Academy Press, US.

Tang, P.C., McDonald, C.J. (2006). Electronic Health Record. In Shortliffe, E.H. (Eds.) Biomedical Informatics: Computer Applications in Healthcare and Medicine.Yasnoff, W.A., O'Carrol, P.W., Friede, A. (2006).

Public Health Informatics and the Health Information Infrastructure. In Shortliffe, E.H. (Eds.). Biomedical Informatics: Computer Applications in Healthcare and Medicine, 3rd ed. Springer-Verlag, New York, pp. 537-562.

Wang, W.J., Middleton, B., Prosser, L.A., Bardon, C.G., Spurr, C.D., Carchidi, P.J., Kittler, A.F., Goldszer, R.C., Fairchild, D.G., Sussman, A.J., Kuperman, G.J., Bates, D.W. (2003). A cost-benefit analysis of electronic medical records in primary care. The American Journal of Medicine, 114(5), 397-403.

Appendix

Key Stakeholder: Position and Department Key Roles within HIM System Reports to? Or Manages whom? Systems, Software, or Technology used. Impacted by Recommendation Role in Successful Implementation Value Statement
Example: Billing Officers Responsible for overseeing the billing process, ensuring CPT and ICD codes are correctly entered. Reports to the Billing Manager who oversees the CPT coders and medical billing staff. Uses hospital billing system (be sure to name system-for example, Medisoft) has access to patient EHR. Recommendation: Change workflow to add a step to authentic billing codes to ensure reimbursement from the relevant programs occurs.
Impact: Adds one step on the front of billing to potentially reduce revenue loss or the need to resubmit on the back end. The billing offices are vital to this workflow change because they will be the ones to ensure that even with the extra authentication step that there is a minimal drop in productivity long-term. This workflow change delivers value by ensuring greater accuracy of initial billing and reimbursement submissions to increase revenues and decrease the need to redo and resubmit work.

Board Members

Responsible for analyzing the costs and benefits of implementing the EHR system. The board members manage the whole healthcare system and the staff. Software analysis tool. Recommendation; Enhance the administration system to improve its overall performance and quality of healthcare services.

Impact: Reduction of instances of readmissions. Development of a system that is user-friendly. The administration plays a significant role by ensuring that the system does not overwork the staff. Implementation of the right system delivers value by ensuring that costs and expenditures are minimized in the hospital's budget.

Nurse Officers

Carry out admission and re admission procedures and manage patient portals. Report to the chief nursing manager Nursing officers use the admissions system. They have access to medical records and patient portals Recommendation; Develop a patient portal to help patients make inquiries and book appointments.

Impact: Reduces paperwork and workload. It also helps in securing records. Nursing officers will enable a successful implementation by building patient trust in the EHR system. A patient will quickly get their data and know their health status Patient trust and transparency add value to the quality and delivery of healthcare.

Laboratory Officers

They ensure that lab tests are carried out and keeping records of waste disposal from the lab. Report to the Laboratory manager on tests performed Laboratory offices use laboratory testing software for analysis. Recommendation: Implement a system that enables saving and reduces work burden by ensuring that only necessary laboratory tests are carried out.

Impact: Reduction of waste disposal and use of resources. Laboratory officers are essential as they will ensure a reduction in the costs of waste disposal. Reduction in costs of waste disposal helps the hospital to save and spend money on the development of EHR.