On February 17, 2009, President Barack Obama signs into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA). The law promotes electronic medical records (EMR) and infrastructure development, such as reimbursement-based pay, to cut health care costs (Frequently Asked Questions, 2009). Likewise, the ARRA is restructuring Medicare disbursements to reimburse for quality not quantity. While the law does not mandate EMR use, the federal government has set aside twenty billion dollars to help in the development of a strong health information technology infrastructure. Title IV states, “NO INCENTIVE PAYMENT IF FIRST ADOPTING AFTER 2014” (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, 2009). In times of economic turmoil, hospitals and physicians, who are not hospital-based, can receive incentive payments (Frequently Asked Questions, 2009). So, most institutions will comply with the restructuring and use EMR’s, even though there are pros and cons.
EMRs provide a common access point where clinicians and health care providers can review and document information about clients and their care. These records are essential to improving efficiency and increasing client safety (Electronic Medical Records, n.d.). Electronic reports are an enabling technology that allows medical practices to pursue more powerful quality improvement programs than is possible with paper-based records (Miller, Robert; Sim, Ida). Clinicians and clients do not have to worry about errors occurring due to the poor legibility of handwritten paper medical records. EMRs facilitate the continuity of care before, during and after hospitalization because all the data in one place. Think of the amount of time and money employees spend on phone calls, emails, and faxes ...
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NANLC. (2008). Accreditation manual. Retrieved July 1, 2011, from http://www.nlnac.org/manuals/NLNACManual2008.pdf
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As the evolution of healthcare from paper documentation to electronic documentation and ordering, the security of patient information is becoming more difficult to maintain. Electronic healthcare records (EHR), telenursing, Computer Physician Order Entry (CPOE) are a major part of the future of medicine. Social media also plays a role in the security of patient formation. Compromising data in the information age is as easy as pressing a send button. New technology presents new challenges to maintaining patient privacy. The topic for this annotated bibliography is the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Nursing informatics role is imperative to assist in the creation and maintenance of the ease of the programs and maintain regulations compliant to HIPAA. As a nurse, most documentation and order entry is done electronically and is important to understand the core concepts of HIPAA regarding electronic healthcare records. Using keywords HIPAA and informatics, the author chose these resources from scholarly journals, peer reviewed articles, and print based articles and text books. These sources provide how and when to share patient information, guidelines and regulation d of HIPAA, and the implementation in relation to electronic future of nursing.
Jha, A. K., Burke, M. F., DesRoches, C., Joshi M. S., Kralovec P. D., Campbell E. G., & Buntin M. B. (2011). Progress Toward Meaningful Use: Hospitals’ Adoption of Electronic Health Records. The American Journal of Managed Care, 17, 117-123
Historically, physicians and nurses documented patients’ health information using paper and pencil. This documentation created numerous errors in patients’ medical records. Patient information became lost or destroyed, medication errors occur daily because of illegible handwriting, and patients had to wait long periods to have access to their medical records. Since then technology has changed the way nurses and health care providers care for their patients. Documentation of patient care has moved to an electronic heath care system in which facilities around the world implement electronic health care systems. Electronic health records (EHR) is defined as a longitudinal electronic record of
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.
With today's use of electronic medical records software, information discussed in confidence with your doctor(s) will be recorded into electronic data files. The obvious concern is the potential for your records to be seen by hundreds of strangers who work in health care, the insurance industry, and a host of businesses associated with medical organizations. Fortunately, this catastrophic scenario will likely be avoided. Congress addressed growing public concern about privacy and security of personal health data, and in 1996 passed “The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act” (HIPAA). HIPAA sets the national standard for electronic transfers of health data.
“An electronic health record (EHR) is a digital version of a patient’s paper chart. EHRs are real-time, patient-centered records that make information available instantly and securely to authorized users.” (healthit.gov) The EHR mandate was created “to share information with other health care providers and organizations – such as laboratories, specialists, medical imaging facilities, pharmacies, emergency facilities, and school and workplace clinics – so they contain information from all clinicians involved in a patient’s care.” ("Providers & Professionals | HealthIT.gov", n.d., p. 1) The process has proved to be quite challenging for providers. As an incentive, the government began issuing payments to those providers who “meaningfully use certified electronic health record (EHR) technology.” (hhs.gov) There are three stages that providers must progress through in order to receive theses financial incentives. Stage one is the initial stage and is met with the creation and implementation of the HER in the business. Stage two “increases health information exchange between providers.” ("United States Department of Health and Human Services | HHS.gov", n.d., p. 1) Stage three will be the continuation and expansion of the “meaningful use objectives.” ("United States Department of Health and Human Services | HHS.gov", n.d., p. 1) The hospital, where I work, initiated the HER mandate many years ago. In this paper, I will discuss the progression and the challenges that my hospital encountered while implementing the EHR mandate.
In 2009 President Obama, through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, pledged to provide incentives to the nation’s physicians and hospitals to convert to an electronic healthcare system in attempt to improve the quality of care and reduce cost (Freudenheim, 2010). By converting to an electronic system, we have the opportunity for improved communication between all healthcare providers and decreased cost to our healthcare system. The goal is to improve communication across all aspects of the service chain (Horan, Botts & Burkhard, 2010). Almost two years later, the conversion progress continues to be slow. Only one in four physician’s offices, mostly large groups, have implemented the electronic record system (Freudenheim, 2010).
EHR's are one of the hottest topics right now in Health Information Management and even news is the medical industry's transitions to an electronic format for managing a patient's health record. The EHR allows healthcare providers to post patient information in different ways of electronic formats instead of on paper. The transition is challenging but there are many more benefits to heatlhcare providers than staying with paper records. Benefits include: Reducing the burdens of managing paper. One of the most immediately benefit that is obvious to an EHR is the reduction in the amount of paper the must be handled to maintain a patients medical record.
Boaden, R., & Joyce, P. (2006). Developing the electronic health record: What about patient safety? Health Services Management Research, 19 (2), 94-104. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/236465771?accountid=32521
Over the last several years, electronic medical records are becoming more prominent in health care facilities, replacing traditional written records. As many electronics are becoming more prevalent with the invention of numerous smartphones and tablet devices, it seems that making medical records available electronically would be appropriate for the evolving times. Even though they have been in use to some extent for many years, the “Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health section of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has brought paperless documentation into the spotlight” (Eisenberg, 2010, p. 8). The systems of electronic medical records mainly consist of clinical note taking, prescription and medication documentation,
There are some advantages to having the EMR system whether it is in the hospital or clinics. One advantage is that it reduces logistical issues. It makes the collections of payments simpler because it is now becoming centralized. Providers are able to coordinate the patients care along with the patients other provider. The EMR system saves time and effort by allowing the doctor to fax and email another doctor or laboratory, which can cut down the usual wait time. It is important for the doctor to have access to getting information quickly and accurately within a timely manner, so he can give the patient all of his attention and time that is needed to heal that patient illness or injury. The information that he may need to move forward may ...
Friedman, L. N., Halpern, N. A. & Fackler, J.C. (2007). Implementing an Electronic Medical Record. Critical Care Clinics 23: 347-381.
President Bush set an objective for the change to electronic health records by 2014. [7] To promote adoption of EHR, the Department of Health and Human Services' quality incentives [8] (Physician Quality Reporting Activity) program monetarily incentivized utilization of an electronic health record by including a reward of an additional 1.5% to government repayment of consideration gave an EHR. President Obama's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 will give $20 billion to the advancement of health informatics focusing on electronic health records adoption. These endeavors will probably move a minimum amount of social insurance offices to EHR utilization. At last it appears to be likely that a mandate or financial punishments will be utilized to provoke innovation laggards accepting incentives from a federal government source to EHR transformation.
An electronic medical record is a digital version of a paper chart that contains all of a patient's medical history from one practice. The benefits of Electronic Medical Records are that it includes the medical and treatment history of the patients in one method. An EMR is more beneficial than paper records because it allows providers to track data over time. It can identify patients who are due for preventive visits and screenings. Electronic Medical Records are a digital equivalent of charts used in the healthcare profession.
Ragavan, V. (2012, August 27). Medical Records Pals Malaysia : 17 Posibble Reasons How Electronic Medical Records (EMR) Might Support Day-to-Day Patient Care. Retrieved from Medical Records Pals Malaysia: http://mrpalsmy.wordpress.com/category/emr/