Ehrs in Health Care

EHRs in easilyness wangle x x x plume In 2009, the wellness Information engineering science for Economic and clinical Health piece (HITECH) was passed into law mandating interoperable Electronic Health Record (EHR) adoption throughout the united States wellness c be organisation for each(prenominal) shtuprs who serve Medi apportion or Medicaid diligents. The HITECH feat sets substantive manipulation up requirements, goals, and objectives, and gives specific periodlines for which to achieve them.As an inducement to expedite the process, the Centers for Medi solicitude and Medicaid Services (CMS) has mop upered m championtary rewards for those facilities and physicians who ar taking steps to give an EHR establishment by 2015. Beginning in 2015, CMS pass on penalize facilities and physicians who birth not enforced an EHR system. angiotensin-converting enzyme of the stipulations of receiving the incentive capital is demonstrating meaty use, or utilizing EHR te chnology in a pregnant way that improves enduring solicitude. squargon use has deuce-ace layers, each centre on distinguishable areas of persevering explosive charge. on that point are several values and losss of utensiling an EHR system, still the benefits greatly outweigh the risks. The HITECH Act is one of the close primary(prenominal) pieces of wellness assistance arseon to date and has been c in alled the foundation for health care reform (Blavin & Ormond, 2011). In 2004, the furnish administration introduced a plan to take care that the aesculapian profession completely converts to electronic health constitutions (EHR).This plan was passed into law by the Obama administration in 2009 chthonic the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH), which is a readying of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) (Kwami, n. d. ). This Act is essentially a $27 one thousand million stimulus package meant to accelera te health care instruction technology in the United States. It allows the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to offer fiscal incentives (up to $44,000 from Medicare and $63,750 from Medicaid per physician or up to $2 million per hospital) for implementing anElectronic Health Record (EHR) system in their installing by 2015 (Murphy, 2012). not only do they call for to implement it, they essential overly meet the substantive use requirements set forth by CMS for successful utilization of the EHR system. To receive the level best incentive payment, physicians/facilities essential begin lodge by April 1, 2013. Starting in 2015, physicians and facilities who take a crap not met those requirements will be penalized. What is purposeful Use? Meaningful use is an comprehensive term for the rules and regulations that hospitals and physicians must meet to particularise for the federal incentive funding under ARRA. at that place are three stages of meaningful use each h as different goals and objectives. For example, stage one centrees on data capture and sharing, and is grouped into five enduring role-driven areas related to patient health outcomes 1. ) Improve quality, sanctuary, and efficiency, 2. ) Engage patients and families, 3. ) Improve care coordination, 4. ) Improve public and population health, and 5. ) manipulate privacy and security for personal health information (Meaningful Use 101, n. d. ). measuring stick two focuses on the advanced clinical processes involved in patient care and stage three will focus on improving actual patient outcomes.Requirements for meaningful use include the expertness to e-prescribe, electronically exchange patient health information, and report on clinical data. The flattual(prenominal) goal is a national health information network. Facilities and physicians must achieve stage three of meaningful use by 2015. Traditionally, physicians crap been reimbursed based on how many an(prenominal) operat e they provide (fee for service). Meaningful use shifts this paradigm to a more patient centered process and concentrates on performance-based initiatives kindred pay for performance (P4P) reimbursement.CMS recently introduced three P4P programs mandatoryd by ARRA designed to reward higher-performing hospitals and penalize poorer-performing hospitals through these reimbursement practices. Hospitals performing at or below the 50th percentile nationally on hospital quality and patient experience measures can expect to verify a meaningful reduction in payment from CMS as early as 2012 (profit for Performance Payment, n. d. ). The shift from volume-based to value-based reimbursement methodology puts more emphasis on patient care and achieving positive outcomes.An opposite part of meaningful use requires that EHRs are interoperable with other facilities and physicians even if they are not the within the same judicature. This means that both organizations EHR system must to be ab le to talk to other organizations systems. If a patient travels to another state or another country and considers to go to the recompense for any reason, the physician in that respect will be able to sustain up the patients EHR and kickshaw them based on the cutting-edge medical information contained in their EHR. This is especially important in emergency situations where the patient may not be in the mark to supply gather uped information.Locally, interoperability is important because it succors physicians overtake with other facilities such as a referral. A patients family physician may refer them to a enduringness doctor and with an EHR, both doctors can military position and document findings in one record rather than having separate papers that need to be brought in by the patient and filed in their paper record. EHRs are similarly an asset within the same facility. When a patient gets a lab or x-rays done, the physician can immediately vex up the results rathe r than having to wait for the lab/x-ray technician to physically bring the results to them.Interoperability befuddles coordination of care easier and more efficient. Advantages of Implementing an EHR In addition to the benefits of interoperability, on that point are several other advantages of implementing an EHR. The principal(prenominal) goal of an EHR is to improve the quality and safety of patient care. EHRs can help provide better health care by improving all aspects of patient care like safety, effectiveness, patient-centeredness, communication, education, timeliness, and efficiency (What Are the Advantages, n. . ). Having a single record that includes all of a patients health information and is up to date, complete, and blameless(prenominal) allow for better coordination of care, accessibility of information, convenience, simpler disorder management, enhanced collaboration between providers by improved information sharing, a significant reduction in medical errors, up-to -date medication and allergy lists, and personify savings in the long run (Benefits of EHRs, n. d. ). EHRs similarly reduce waste and liminate duplicate screenings and tests, as well as help physicians make better, more comprehensive clinical decisions by integrating patient information from ternary sources into one EHR (What Are the Advantages, n. d. ). Another advantage of having your health record in electronic format is increased security and privacy. With a paper record, anyone can pull it off the shelf and browse through it, but with an electronic record there are differing levels of authorization allowing only certain flock access to your chart. Also, your chart cannot get befuddled.Instead of someone having to sign it out every time they need to use it and having to manually track it, an EHR allows multiple users to access it at different times, on different computers, and leaves an audit trail automatically. Disadvantages of Implementing an EHR There are likewise dis advantages of EHRs including overall hail, ongoing livelihood costs, changes in workflow, and temporary loss of productivity bonnie to name a few (Menachemi Collum, 2011). One of the biggest concerns of implementing an EHR system is the initial cost.Acquiring and implementing an EHR system can be quite expensive depending on the size of the facility. The projected total cost for a medium sized yard bird facility with a seven twelvemonth EHR installation is approximately $19 million. In the outpatient setting, cost is approximately $14,000 per physician in the initial year of implementation for a six-physician practice, and $19,000 per physician with three or less physicians (Menachemi Collum, 2011). Smaller practices may find it grave to cope with the added expense of an EHR system the viability of those practices may suffer as a result.Another disadvantage of implementing an EHR system is the cost of transitioning from paper to electronic records. Additional staff will be r equired to scan in all of the paper documents into electronic format. This process can take months depending on how big the facility is so it could really energize an reach on a facilities bottom line. There will also be a catamenia of time where the staff is less productive than they would normally be as they learn how to use the electronic system. This period is called the learning curve.To help therapeutic this, temporary staff will need to be hired to fill in the gap and keep the workflow up to date which also has a significant financial effect on an organization. The maintenance of an EHR system can be high-priced and technology is not ceaselessly reliable. hardware must be replaced and software must be upgraded on a weak basis. In addition, providers must have ongoing training for staff as well as IT support available, such as a 24/7 help line. Also, as with all things electronic, there is always the possibility of the system going batch.Hospitals and physicians must have a plan in place outlining what the proper procedure is for the down time until the system is up and ladder again. This generally means they will have to revert back to paper financial support while the system is down, so they also need to have a convalescence plan in place enlarge how they will go about get the paper documentation from the down time transferred into the EHRs. Conclusion Although some might fight that an EHR system is in any case costly and too much work, it is a federal mandate that all physicians/facilities (who service Medicare or Medicaid patients) implement an EHR system.And while the transition from paper to electronic is a costly and tedious process, the benefits of an EHR are numerous and greatly outweigh the cost of implementation. As President Obama said, You shouldnt have to tell every new doctor you see about your medical narration or what prescriptions youre taking. You shouldnt have to repeat costly tests. All that information should be sto red securely in a private medical record so that your information can be introduce from one doctor to another even if you change jobs, even if you move, even if you have to see a number of different specialists.Thats just common sense. ( devising the confuse Replacing, 2010). References Benefits of EHRs. (n. d. ). Retrieved February 13, 2013, from http//www. healthit. gov/providers-professionals/improved-care-coordination Blavin, F. , Ormond, B. (2011, May). HITECH, meaningful use, and public health patronage opportunities for state immunization registries White paper. Retrieved from http//www. medicaidhitechta. org/Portals/0/Users/011/11/11/ImmunRegWhitePaper. pdf Kwami, K. K. (n. d. ). The EMR federal requirements of physicians. Retrieved February 13, 2013, from http//www. how. com/list_6961848_emr-federal-requirements-physicians. html Making the switch Replacing your EHR for more money and more control White paper. (2010, September). Retrieved from http//www. healthcareitne ws. com/sites/default/files/ resource-media/pdf/making_the_switch_replacing_your_ehr. pdf Meaningful use 101. (n. d. ). Retrieved February 13, 2013, from http//www. medicity. com/meaningful-use-101. html Menachemi, N. , Collum, T. H. (2011, May 11). Benefits and drawbacks of electronic health record systems. Retrieved from http//www. ncbi. nlm. nih. ov/pmc/articles/PMC3270933/ Murphy, K. (2012, May 9). American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). Retrieved from http//ehrintelligence. com/glossary/american-recovery-and-reinvestment-act-arra/ Pay for performance payment systems that reward or penalize hospitals based on performance. (n. d. ). Retrieved February 13, 2013, from http//www. getwellnetwork. com/services/health-reform/pay-performance What are the advantages of electronic health records? (n. d. ). Retrieved February 13, 2013, from http//www. healthit. gov/providers-professionals/faqs/what-are-advantages-electronic-health-records