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Current status of electronic health records
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Current status of electronic health records
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Meaningful Use and the EHR
Many new technologies are being used in health organizations across the nations, which are being utilized to help improve the quality of health care. Electronic Health Records (EHRs) play a critical role in improving access, quality and efficiency of healthcare ("Electronic health records," 2014). In order to assist in expanding the use of EHR’s, in 2011 The Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS), instituted a EHR incentive program called the Meaningful use Program. This program was instituted to encourage and expand the use of the HER, by providing health professional and health organizations yearly incentive payments when they demonstrate meaningful use of the EHR ("Medicare and medicaid," 2014). The Meaningful use program will be explored including its’ implications for nurses, nursing, national policy, how the population health data relates to Meaningful use data collection in various stages and finally recommendations for beneficial improvement for patient outcomes and population health and more.
Overview of Meaningful Use
The U. S government passed the American Recovery Act in 2009 that established incentives and penalties to promote EHR use. From this legislation the Meaningful Use Program for EHR’s s was created. Through The Meaningful Use Program the U.S. government is able to support the adoption and use of EHR technology to enhance and revolutionize health care. The goal of the program is to increase EHR adoption, improve quality, safety, reduce disparities, and improve public health (hmsa , 2012).
The Meaningful use program was set up for implementation in three stages over a five-year period. The first stage ended in 2012 and involved evaluating health trends, and ...
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... requirements have remained the same (Buckley & Buckley, 2010). This further supports the argument against adding more core measures.
Conclusion
The preliminary effects of the Meaningful Use Program have began to have an impact on improving the quality of care and its’ safety and efficiency. I gained a greater understanding of information technology and it’s role and importance to my current and future practice. I learned the goal of the Meaningful Use Program isn’t just to install technology in facilities across the nation its so much more. The goals are to empower patients and their families, reduce health disparities and support research and health data. The EHR can prevent medication errors, reduce long term medical costs, improve population health and through the Meaningful use program the vision of this program is becoming reality.
The federal government has taken a stance to standardized care by creating incentive programs that are mandated under the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) of 2009. This act encourages healthcare providers and healthcare institutions to adopt Meaningful use in order to receive incentives from Medicare and Medicaid. Meaningful use is the adoption of a certified health record system that acquires or obtains specified objectives about a patient. The objectives or measures are considered gold standard practices with the EHR system. Examples of the measures include data entry of vital signs, demographics, allergies, entering medical orders, providing patients with electronic copies of their records, and many more pertinent information regarding the patient (Friedman et al, 2013, p.1560).
“Meaningful Use” implemented in July, 2010, set criteria’s for physicians and hospitals to adhere, in order to qualify for certain financial incentives and to be deemed meaningful users (MU) of the EMR. Meaningful use in healthcare is defined as using certified electronic health record to improve quality, safety, efficiency, and reduce mortality and morbidity. There are 3 stages of meaningful use implementation. The requirements for the 3 stages are spread out over a period of 5 years. MU mandates that physicians meet 15 core objectives and hospitals meet 14 core objectives (Hoffman & Pudgurski, 2011). The goal is to in-cooperate the patient and family in their health, empower autonomy to make decisions while improving care in all population.
Unfortunately, the quality of health care in America is flawed. Information technology (IT) offers the potential to address the industry’s most pressing dilemmas: care fragmentation, medical errors, and rising costs. The leading example of this is the electronic health record (EHR). An EHR, as explained by HealthIT.gov (n.d.), is a digital version of a patient’s paper chart. It includes, but is not limited to, medical history, diagnoses, medications, and treatment plans. The EHR, then, serves as a resource that aids clinicians in decision-making by providing comprehensive patient information.
The Meaningful Use includes the implementation of EHR in three Stages and is mainly focused on using EHR as a new healthcare technology that is used to promote health information exchange and resulting in improved outcomes in patient care. This benefited both the providers as well as the patients.
One of the positive impact is that it stresses the improved use of technology specially with interoperability. MIPS encourages health information exchange and patient engagement (e.g. patient portals) while recognizing the importance of gathering, analyzing, and sharing key patient data as crucial to improving patient outcomes and lowering overall costs (Pottinger, 2017). Another positive impact is that it focuses on improved patient outcomes. Since it is a value-based care reimbursement, the scores accrued help determine bonuses or penalties, incentives that pushes for the improvement of care and the achievement of enhanced patient outcomes (Pottinger, 2017). On the negative side, many HCOs and practitioners feel that MACRA seems to have been implemented relatively fast.
Meaningful Use (MU) is defined as a healthcare provider’s usage of certified EHR technology in a way that can be measured largely in quality and in quantity. By establishing meaningful use using an Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) certified EHR program; healthcare providers can collect stimulus money, as arranged through the HITECH act of 2009. MU is designed to improve healthcare quality, efficiency, safety, and help to reduce health disparities. Also this helps to maintain privacy and security of patient healthcare information. (EHR Incentives & Certification, 2014)
This paper will identify the use of Electronic Health Records and how nursing plays an important role. Emerging in the early 2000’s, utilizing Electronic Health Records have quickly become a part of normal practice. An EHR could help prevent dangerous medical mistakes, decrease in medical costs, and an overall improvement in medical care. Patients are often taking multiple medications, forget to mention important procedures/diagnoses to providers, and at times fail to follow up with providers. Maintaining an EHR could help tack data, identify patients who are due for preventative screenings and visits, monitor VS, & improve overall quality of care in a practice. Nurse informaticists play an important role in the adaptation, utilization, and functionality of an EHR. The impact the EHR could have on a general population is invaluable; therefore, it needs special attention from a trained professional.
The health industry has existed ever since doctors bartered for chickens to pay for their services. Computers on the other hand, in their modern form have only existed since the 1940s. So when did technology become a part of health care? The first electronic health record(EHR) programs were created in the 1960s around the same time the Kennedy administration started exploring the validity of such products (Neal, 2013). Between the 1960s and the current administration, there were little to no advancements in the area of EHR despite monumental advancements in software and hardware that are available. While some technology more directly related to care, such as digital radiology, have made strides medical record programs and practice management programs have gained little traction. Physicians have not had a reason or need for complicated, expensive health record suites. This all changed with the introduction of the Meaningful Use program introduced in 2011. Meaningful use is designed to encourage and eventually force the usage of EHR programs. In addition, it mandates basic requirements for EHR software manufactures that which have become fragmented in function and form. The result was in 2001 18 percent of offices used EHR as of 2013 78 percent are using EHR (Chun-Ju Hsiao, 2014). Now that you are caught up on some of the technology in health care let us discuss some major topics that have come up due to recent changes. First, what antiquated technologies is health care are still using, what new tech are they exploring, and then what security problems are we opening up and what is this all costing.
The EHR is a computerized health record that will take place of the paper chart. The health care information will be available to all health care providers at anytime, anywhere. The record will contain medical history, diagnosis, medications, immunization, allergies, diagnostics and lab results; from past doctors, emergency department visits, school, pharmacies, and out patient laboratories and facilities (Department of health and human services, 2014). Health care providers will be able to access evidence-based tools to aid in decision-making. EHR will also streamline workflow, and support changes in payer requirements and consumer expectations. In 2004, “the HHS secretary, Tommy Thompson appointed David Brailer as the national health information coordinator to provide: leadership for the development and nationwide implementation of a interoperable HIT infrastructure, with the goal of establishing electronic health records...
Moreover, in the contemporary society, decision makers; especially policy makers; and the general public has been relying on both health services research and health promotion for data and information that is essential in understanding the industry. This thus highlights the potential that these two have and thus the centrality of data analysis and outcome dissemination in ensuring that not only is the data available but has been purposely disseminated to the relevant bodies and the public for action and further review. Since health service research also provide the information that is later used in improving the public’s health, the process of data analysis will continue acting as a catalyst for continued research within the health industry. Further, through data analysis, the information released will be dependable and thus effective in informing theory, health practice and the execution of evidence based
Explain in detail why data is key to developing population health. Big data is everywhere in the healthcare industry, flooding in by the gigabyte each time a patient seeks care from a provider. From intake to discharge and every step in between, a patient’s data determines what will happen, who will be involved, how much it will cost, and what the patient should do next. Before the rise of value-based care payments predicated on positive outcomes, providers were able to open up a patient’s health record when she stepped through the door, add their notes to the file as they treated a specific concern, and stow it in the filing cabinet again without giving much of a thought to what was happening before, after, or even at the same time in a different
The development in information technology has led to a significant change in the health care system all over the world, it has led to providing better health care for patients and it has also helped in achieving health equity. Integrating information technology into the health care system has made electronic health information (EHI) possible. Electronic health information is the recording and storing of patients’ data to facilitate and improve health care delivery and to allow analysis of this information for health care practitioners and health government agencies or health related bodies. These data are used for the implementation of policies to deliver better health care services. The role of information technology cannot be overemphasized
"The Need Is Real: Data." Organdonor.gov | Welcome to Organdonor.gov. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, n.d. Web. 15 Dec. 2013.
In health education and promotion, data collection is an important part of needs and capacity assessment, which aids in understanding the target population, in decision making, and tailoring interventions to suit them. The quality of data obtained facilitates the decision-making process and the quality of the intervention program. In addition, it determines if the program will be appropriate, accepted, and accessible by the target population. There are two types of data to be collected: primary data and secondary data (Gilmore, 2012).
Over the past decade, technological advances have paved the way for nurses to provide, quality, safe, standardized and individualized patient care (Saba & McCormick, 2015). The use of the Electronic Health Records (EHR) to manage patient data is quickly becoming widespread in the healthcare industry. The emerging use of the Electronic Health Record, is transforming how nurses care for patients. By creating and implementing an electronic, comprehensive, standardized method of recording patient data, nurses can facilitate and coordinate patient care with members of the multidisciplinary healthcare team. The use of the Electronic Health Record will promote positive