Technology Revolutionizing Healthcare: Electronic Health Records - Essay Sample

Introduction

Over the last decade, many organizations and people all over the world have adopted the use of technology through the use of tablets, computers, smartphones, not forgetting the use of smartwatches. Through the significant utilization of technology, everything has been made much more accessible. The health care sector has not, however, been left behind; many healthcare providers have widely adapted the electronic health record, which is user friendly and has revolutionized health sectors. This paper will address the use of healthy electronic documents and, most notably, the importance that it accords the health providers that implement it in their institutions. Why do most of the healthcare firms prefer to use the EHR to paper?

Further, the paper will address the EHR mandate as well as its goals, the details of the implementation of the EHR in a healthcare facility. Its meaningful use. Lastly, the paper will address the issue of patient confidentiality with EHR, probable threat as well as its link to HIPAA regulations. However, the central purpose of this research paper is to address the importance of the electronic health records, its meaningful use as well as its relation to the confidentiality of the patient with an institutional setting and how the organization of my choosing has successfully implemented the EHR.

Electronic Health Records

The electronic health record mandate is a section of the healthcare IT for Economic and Clinical Health Act, which is a fragment of the United States Recovery and Reinvestment Act of the year 2009. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act were signed in the year 2009 by president Obama making it a federal law. Additionally, the office center for Medicare, as well as Medicaid, launched the EHR incentive at the same time when the Office of National Coordinator of health data announced the Federal Health information tactical plan (Medicare & Medicaid EHR Incentive Program. n.d). One of the agendas of President Obama's administration was to bring about reforms in the health care system. Once he took over the office, he worked with Congress to make this a reality hence the creation of the Patient Protection and Affordable Act of 2010. This act made it possible to ensure accountability by paying for the patient's outcomes, and this was monitored using the EHR. Hence all the healthcare institutions were required to implement the EHR effectively and efficiently demonstrate meaningful use.

The objective of EHR mandate is to center the patient care and ensure overall health for the entire population. However, it is essential to note that the federal health information tactical plan has a precise objective and goals to monitor the EHR. One of the purposes is to expand the adoption of health care information technology. Secondly, to advance interoperable and secure patient information and thirdly is to guarantee technical security and privacy of data. Additionally, the EHR is employed to expand on the wellbeing of the -persons and the community at large, in addition to empowering health engagement, promote public health and management. And lastly, encourage research, advance scientific knowledge, and creativity.

The Facility's Plans

the company that I recently worked for has adopted the EHR. The company had to switch the same system though move from the one system that was currently being used the organization to EHR. However, the implementation process was carried out systematically to ensure that it was successful and maximize the advantages of adopting the EHR.

The company practice readiness was assessed, the current needs of the organization were evaluated, the preparedness for the changes as well as the overall goals of the company was accessed to determine the areas of improvement. One of the areas that were found most needing was staffing and patient care. Since the company has different employees of all ages, it was necessary to put the age bracket into consideration in the implementation process.

A plan was put in place detailing each step of the implementation process, which included a schedule of duties and the timelines for the implementation. The Implementation of EHR was to be carried in phrases to monitor the effectiveness and the learning capabilities. And this was tactical since it helped the employees to learn and to help others learn.

The implementation was conducted, and the training on the new EHR was started on. Since the facility adopted MedTech, it was essential to train its staff on the use of the ne system. The training was conducted in four sections, out of the facility and the practice days on a MedTech training module, two weeks after the MedTech was in operation there was expertise ready to assist the employees on its use.

Assessing what was learned from the system helps the organization determine the meaningful use of adapting the EHR. And through the use of MedTech, the company has significantly improved on the services offered to the patients; the reduction of paper use has made it more effective and, most importantly, reduced on errors and loss of client information.

Meaningful Use

According to the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (2014), meaningful use is the effective utilization of the EHR to improve on the healthcare safety as well as that of the patients, improve the quality of care offered to the patients, increase efficiency as well as reduce on health disparities. Additionally, it defined on the different ways in which the patient's families and the patients as well can ber involved in the treatment process, ensure that the confidentiality of the patient information is assured as well as that of the care providers.

Patient's Confidentiality And EHR

EHR, however, possess a new threat when the confidentiality or the security of the patient information is put into consideration. And this is because the implementation of the EHR allows the different individuals to access the patient's data from separate locations. And in light of this, then an authorized person can gain access to confidential patient information. Passed in the year 1996, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act requires the healthcare facilities or providers to protect the confidentiality of the patient's information (HIPAA. n.d.). It also requires healthcare providers to develop tactical plans that ensure that the patient information is protected (Levy, 2018). Much care ought to take when using the EHR since beaches are a threat. Such measures as ensuring that the computers are logged out at all times are essential, all the personal devices that are used in the facilities ought to be secured. If the patient information is to be disclosed through emails, the sender must get the receipt right, and the content of the email be precise and contains only the required information. It is important to note that the company IT department is responsible for ensuring the safety of the data.

Conclusion

EHR is presently a requirement by the federal government, and numerous laws work harmoniously to ensure that there are reforms in the health care sector. And the outcome-based payment method is the way forward to ensure that all the healthcare providers are held accountable for the quality of care that they offer. And to measure the quality of care, meaningful use is employed to standardize as well as assess. The organization where I recently work has employed the EHR, and it is using the necessary strategies to ensure that it is successful and additionally gain meaningful use. And through the employment of HIPAA, the confidentiality of the patient information is therefore guaranteed.

References

HIPAA. (n.d.). Retrieved July 18, 2018, from http://www.dhcs.ca.gov/formsandpubs/laws/hipaa/Pages/1.00WhatisHIPAA.aspx

Levy, M. (2018, March 16). Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Retrieved July 18, 2018, from https://www.britannica.com/topic/Patient-Protection-and-Affordable-Care-Act

Medicare & Medicaid EHR Incentive Program. (n.d.). Retrieved July 18, 2018, from https://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Legislation/EHRIncentivePrograms/downloads/MU_Stage1_ReqOverview.pdf

U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. (2015, August 13). Key Features of the Affordable Care Act By Year. Retrieved from Health Care: http://www.hhs.gov/healthcare/facts/timeline/timeline-text.html