NUR 621 How has the EHR impacted your health care organization?

Electronic health care records have a lot of benefits in healthcare. One of the main benefits of EHR is having security of data. By having most data in computer system that require the use of password to access, it is easy to track anyone who logs in any healthcare system and accesses patients’ private health data. EHR has made it easy for healthcare providers to share and access patients’ healthcare records in real-time without necessarily having patients carry paper documents physically whenever they go to see their providers. All what healthcare providers need to do is to access the health information online and find about their patients. EHR has helped in reducing medical error among patients. Different healthcare providers can access medical records of their patients online, that way they are able to see what type of medication they are on. By doing this they wouldn’t overprescribe or under prescribe their patients meds. EHR has gone a long way in improving the environment, since a lot of documents are saved electronically which eliminates the use of paper documents thus saving a lot of trees in the process. EHR has also reduced the cost of doing business, since most records can be sent online without necessarily using postage or mail. Some of the downside of EHR is that when the system goes down, patient records are no longer accessible, which may result in delay of care. There is a risk that private healthcare information may end up in the wrong hands, especially if healthcare information system is breached. It may cost a lot of money for any healthcare institution to constantly update the security of software on their system. Some healthcare providers may find it difficult to adopt using EHR which may hinder use of IT in the highest capacity (Patterson,2004).

Reference:

Patterson, K. D. (2004). Healing Health Care: Fixing a Broken System with Information Technology. Kansas Journal of Law & Public Policy, 14(1), 193–220.

The US (United States) healthcare system was evaluated in 2001 by the Institute of Medicine that submitted a report “Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century.” The report stressed the importance of quality measurement to assess quality of care for US healthcare system recipients. The Institute of Medicine report found that when preventive, acute, and chronic care were examined overall, Americans received only half of the quality interventions that were recommended. Furthermore, these identified deficiencies pose serious threats to the health and wellbeing of the American public. Healthcare landscape has moved toward a priority on quality improvement using quality measurement, electronic health records (EHRs), financial incentives, and clinical interventions (Hersey et al., 2019). The Meaningful Use incentive program was the first attempt by the federal government to offer financial incentives to increase adoption of EHRs to allow providers the opportunity to deliver higher quality and effective care. A comparison of New York physicians that received Meaningful Use incentives found higher quality among physicians that received the incentive-supporting the idea that EHRs are associated with better quality outcomes. By promoting specific requirements around care information and interoperability, the (Quality Payment Program) QPP recognized the critical role EHRs play in any attempt to simultaneously reduce healthcare costs and improve quality (Hersey et al., 2019).

However, EHRs alone will not improve quality of care. Physicians have experienced several challenges in working with EHRs. For example, EHRs often require healthcare providers to document clinical information before they can advance to the next screen, which can result in physicians entering inaccurate information just to move along. Many physicians have expressed frustration with the time required to enter data into EHRs, the perceived lack of value of some of the information being recorded, and the contribution of EHRs to physician dissatisfaction and burnout. At the same time, physicians recognize the potential of EHRs to improve care, and few would support a return to paper medical records. The challenges are how to better ensure that the potential benefits of EHRs are realized in practice while alleviating their problems as much as possible (Hersey et al., 2019).

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Health care providers are adopting the electronic health record (EHR) that replaces paper-based health records. Related computer technologies that are increasingly popular in health care include clinical decision support systems and computerized provider order entry (CPOE) systems. Point-of-care nursing systems allow nurses to retrieve and share patient data, make charges, and document care without leaving the patient’s bedside. Bar coding and other devices aid in patient identification and tracking items such as medications. Telehealth technologies that utilize telecommunications are increasingly used in areas such as patient diagnosis and monitoring, professional consultation and decision support, and education (Penner, 2016).

References

Hersey, C. L., M.P.H., Tant, E., M.Sc, Berzin, O. K. G., M.P.H., Trisolini, M. G., PhD., & West, S. L., PhD. (2019). Moving from quality measurement to quality improvement: Applying meaningful use lessons to the quality payment program. Perspectives in Health Information Management, , 1-12. Retrieved from https://lopes.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://www.proquest.com/scholarly-journals/moving-quality-measurement-improvement-applying/docview/2332353145/se-2

Penner, S. J., RN, , MN, , MPA, , DrPH, , & CNL, . (2016). Economics and financial management for nurses and nurse leaders (3rd ed.). Springer Publishing Company.

This is an outstanding and in-depth work, Tanya. The challenge you have noted in your post regarding how to better ensure that the potential benefits of EHRs are realized in practice while alleviating their problems as much as possible can be addressed through integration of EHR system (Heart et al., 2017). Integrating EHR system fosters connectivity among health providers, facilities, and offices involved in patient care. Integration of EHR is also essential in ensuring that patients access their health data through patient portals. The integrated systems enable instant access to patient health records and also facilitate sharing of the records with other providers, updated in time, and keep everyone updated to foster best patient care (Ryu et al., 2017). Ultimately, integrated EHR leads to benefits such as errors and risks reduction since it ensures easily accessible and inclusive medical records and also quicken diagnostics. EHR integration also contains benefits such as improving research and clinical reminders and alerts. The other benefit of EHR integration is increased patient satisfaction. The patient portals enable patients to access lab tests and results, medical information, and communicate with clinicians, which are powerful resources in engaging patients in their care solutions (Zhang et al., 2019).

References

Heart, T., Ben-Assuli, O., & Shabtai, I. (2017). A review of PHR, EMR and EHR integration: A more personalized healthcare and public health policy. Health Policy and Technology, 6(1), 20-25. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.hlpt.2016.08.002

Ryu, B., Kim, N., Heo, E., Yoo, S., Lee, K., Hwang, H., … & Jung, S. Y. (2017). Impact of an electronic health record-integrated personal health record on patient participation in health care: development and randomized controlled trial of MyHealthKeeper. Journal of medical Internet research, 19(12), e8867. doi:10.2196/jmir.8867

Zhang, R., Burgess, E. R., Reddy, M. C., Rothrock, N. E., Bhatt, S., Rasmussen, L. V., … & Starren, J. B. (2019). Provider perspectives on the integration of patient-reported outcomes in an electronic health record. JAMIA open, 2(1), 73-80. https://doi.org/10.1093/jamiaopen/ooz001

According to Joneidy and Burke, Meaningful use is the use of digital medical and health records that are used to improve quality, safety and efficiency of patient health information and a continuum for delivery of care. (2018). Electronic health records, (EHR’s)improve the quality of care, patient outcomes and improved safety. (Health & Porter, 2019). This is done by improving management, reducing medication errors, reducing unnecessary or repeat procedures and a continuum for communication via a collaborative approach of all involved disciplines in care. An EHR replaced the patients’ paper charts and provide real-time, patient centered information that is accessible immediately and provided through a secure system to authorized users. According to the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, patient privacy and security is maintained according to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) Privacy Rule (2015).

The initiation of an EHR helped provide convivence of patient care, messaging ability to providers, care coordination, and patient engagement in their own care and decision-making processes. The EHR has impacted the hospital in which I work in many ways. It has increased efficiency of care delivery, improved accuracy of order entry due to check boxes and signatures required thereby reducing medical errors. EHRs have increased accurate testing and reducing costs by avoiding repeat procedures. It has allowed all disciplines to be involved in the patients care in a collaborative method across the care spectrum from primary care through hospital-based care. (Penner, 2017). Some of the negative attributes with an electronic record could be the initial expense invested and to maintain the system. A health care professional has to record the data and whether it’s the nurse of the provider, that may take time away from the patient with their direct interaction of patient physician/nurse relationship. Our hospital EHR goes down and we tend to scramble to find legal paper documents to chart on, then scan back into the system when it is up and running once again. Overall, I have found EHRs to be highly efficient with the ability to provide high quality, complete care that has changed our healthcare system for the better.

Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) (2015, March 6). National Provider Identifier standard (NPI). Retrieved from https://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/HIPAA-Administrative.Simplification/NationalProvIdentStand/index.html?redirect=/nationalprovidentstand.

Heath, M., & Porter, T. H. (2019). Change management overlooked: Physician perspectives on EHR implementation. American Journal of Business, 34(1), 19–36. https://doi.org/10.1108/ajb-09-2017-0028

Joneidy, S, Burke, M. (2018). Towards a Deeper Understanding of Meaningful Use in Electronic Health Records. Health Records. Health Info Library. https://doi.org/10.1111/hir.12233

Penner, S. J. (2017). Economics and financial management for nurses and nurse leaders (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Springer Publishing. ISBN-13: 9780826160010

Attachments

According to Joneidy and Burke.docx

An electronic health record (EHR) is basically a patient’s paper chart that is electronic and digital (What is an electronic health record, 2019). Having an EHR within my organization has made charting easier and more simplified. It makes retrieval of past information easier and quicker. It reduces errors because there aren’t entries that may be illegible. It makes the sharing of patient records easier across healthcare systems or specialties. It can help to alert healthcare workers of a decline in patient condition and an interaction between different prescribed medications. It also provides many tools or resources to aid in the implementation of evidence based research to improve patient outcomes. With anything electronic there can be negative issues associated with it. Having patient information in an electronic form can increase the risk for data breaches and HIPAA violations. Another issue with using an EHR is that sometimes it can go down. This has happened recently several times that it is not working and we are unable to use the EHR for patient care. This causes safety issues and delays in care depending on how long the system is down for. Overall, the use of an EHR is positive but there can be a few issues with having an EHR.

What is an electronic health record (EHR)? HealthIT.gov. (2019, September 10). Retrieved January 9, 2022, from https://www.healthit.gov/faq/what-electronic-health-record-ehr

Electronic health records (EHRs) have significantly improved how health information records are handled. Benefits include safety regarding less medical errors than written patient data; efficiency and time saving regarding accessing patient data between providers, different healthcare members, and organizations; and more effective means of communication between patients and providers and increased access by patients to own medical records. EHR has replaced paper paper-based health records, and more and more providers have adopted the same use (Penner, 2017). EHRs contain information from all the clinicians involved in a patient’s care; all authorized clinicians involved in a patient’s care can access the information to provide care to that patient (health IT, 2019). Authorized providers need to access and share patient data in health care for better outcomes, care collaboration, and increased patient satisfaction.

EHR has many crucial benefits in the workplace. Besides streamlining a clinician’s workflow, EHR can support care-related activities, including evidence-based decision support, quality management, and outcomes reporting (CMS, 2021). This writer currently works for a network hospital, and EHR has improved care collaboration due to access to data. Despite all the benefits that EHR provides to healthcare facilities, it does have its disadvantages. Some disadvantages encountered with EHR are that the system used is more complex than other EHR systems and issues with network and connectivity. This writer remembers the days of paper charting compared to present-day electronic documentation; it is much more efficient and safer for patients, providers, and healthcare organizations.

References

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. (2021). Electronic health records. https://www.cms.gov/Medicare/E-Health/EHealthRecords

Health IT. (2019). What is an electronic health record (EHR). https://www.healthit.gov/faq/what-electronic-health-record-ehr

Penner, S. J. (2017). Economics and Financial Management for Nurses and Nurse Leaders (3rd ed.). Springer Publishing Company. ISBN: 978-0-8261-6001-0

Electronic health records have had an huge impact on the health organization that I work. Electronic health records allow providers to share health information with all involved in patient care. Having electronic health records not only saves paper but it saves time as well. “EHRs are real-time, patient-centered records that make information available instantly and securely to authorized users.” (Health Information Technology, 2021) EHR’s have allowed my organization to run more efficiently by having access to pertinent patient information in a timely manner.

Some positive aspects of EHR’s include having access to information that allows you to make better decisions and coordinate patient care. “EHRs and the ability to exchange health information electronically can help you provide higher quality and safer care for patients while creating tangible enhancements for your organization.” (Health Information Technology, 2021) EHR’s have prevented the duplication of test lowering health care costs. They give authorized users the ability to access important health information providing accurate, up -to-date, and complete information about patients at the point of care. Some negative issues regarding EHR is incorrect information in the EHR. “Evidence based practice as described by the Rosswurm and Larrabee (1999) model with a focus on linking problems to interventions can be guided by the useful information shared from the current users.” (Lipford, Jones, & Johnson, 2017) Another negative aspect is unauthorized users having access to patient information. It is important that EHR’s are not breached and adhere to Health lnsurance Portability and Accountability Act.

Advantages of Health Care Records. (2021). Health Information Technology. http://healthit.gov

Lipford, K., Jones, D. S., & Johnson, D. K. (2017). Needs Assessment of an Electronic Health Record at an Inpatient Psychiatric Hospital. Online Journal of Nursing Informatics, 21(1), 7–1.

NUR 621 How has the EHR impacted your health care organization?