Electronic Health Record ( Ehrs )

As our world gets radically transformed by digital technology, EHRs leverage the digital potential to transform healthcare delivery. The benefits of EHRs are numerous. Amongst the many benefits, some relevant to this discussion include: reducing costs e.g. by minimizing duplication of tests, improving integrated care and coordination amongst various healthcare professionals, improving patient engagement, and allowing free flow of information for it to be available at any time anywhere within the country. These benefits are unfortunately not fully realized in Canada and some of the factors hindering that are:

We live in an era where we are more dependent on technology and want an enhanced access to health care system in Canada. Though not having full access to EHRs might be the barriers for many people in different areas in Canada. Some could have issues concerning about losing their medical documents, and it can diminish the waiting time in hospitals or even health clinics as well(Wiljer, 2008). Electronic Health Record systems, have the high chance of making the health care system better and that uses medical and other important information to support providers in achieving better care to

My interest in all things healthcare related led me to take a position as an electronic health records (EHR) specialist and trainer at North East Medical Services, a federally qualified health center based out of San Francisco. With no prior computer programming background, I accepted the challenge and fed my curiosity by entering unfamiliar territory. Through this experience, I gained a unique perspective on the physiology of a health clinic from medical coding to charting and was privileged to witness the transformative work of a nurse practitioner. The role refined my abilities to lead execution intensive projects with time constraints and to stay present and grounded in high-pressure situations.

In the healthcare industry, urgent care organizations are often viewed by many as a disruptor in health care. This provides an impactful advantage for the urgent care industry, meaning it is an upstart that is changing the status quo by allowing patients to access care at the time and place they choose (Kulin, 2015). In the book,Where Does It Hurt? An Entrepreneur’s Guid to Fixing Health Care (Bush & Baker, 2014), reported a few stark stats that leadership presented to investors as to why our organization needed to make the switch to a new Electronic Health Record (EHR) that could better support future patient and healthcare needs. According to Bush and Baker (2014), the United States’ dysfunctional healthcare system:

Care is changing universally. Healthcare workers have updated standards and practices for care today, and electronic health records (EHR) are one of these updates. EHR’s are an electronic version of a patient’s medical history. Since EHR have been implemented, it has saved patient’s lives, but also caused casualties. The question is are EHR’s helping to improve care? In this paper, the benefits of EHR’s are discussed in how they’ve improved patient-centered care and promoted health care.

Use of EHR (electronic health records) in United States has increased in past years and have gained widespread use in the country. The use of EHR-Electronic Health Records or EMR-Electronic Medical Records and the systems that support them have gained standardized collection of health information and data for patient and healthcare providers. Because of these technologies, healthcare providers now have information about their patients at their fingertips, which has led to better and more accurate care. There are debates on using EHR. According to Mushtaq (2015), one of the most common debate is the use of EHR compliance and the value of these technologies that surround them (Mushtaq, 2015). Providers wonder if EHR use is useful and what is to be gained for the HCP-Healthcare provider. In regards to such debates and ongoing conversations, it is important to understand the definition of meaningful use and whether these technologies have resulted in meaningful use. According to Burchell (2016), The government developed the HITECH (Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health) Act of 2009, which incorporates the meaningful use program (Burchell, 2016). The program has goals that tell us how to use the meaningful use with EMR or EHR. It helps HCP and organizations alike attain, use and keep goals like patient and clinical outcomes, individual patient autonomy, and increased transparency for providers. When these goals are attained and kept it will greatly

As the emergence of electronic health records (EHRs), the subject of transforming the delivery method of healthcare is prominent in the United States. The use of EHRs is a major key in the way physicians practice in healthcare organizations through communication and management of patient information. Henricks (2011) points out that EHRs are a part of an objective aimed at improving all aspects of health care and reducing health disparities, making the healthcare of patients and families appealing to them, refining the direction of healthcare, along with population and public health improvement, continuation of privacy maintenance and the security of health information, and finally reducing costs. In the perspective of health information technology

If you ask the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information (ONC) there is a distinct difference between the two. The two organizations state the term “health” covers a broader range verses the term “medical” as stated by Aetna (Garrett & Siedman, 2011). ONC clarifies that electronic medical records are comprised of solely of only the patients’ clinical information such as preventive screening and checkups are due and vaccines. The electronic health record contains a broader history of the patients’ medical history to provide the complete synopsis of the patients’ health.

A personal health record (PHR) is an emerging health information technology that patients may use to participate in their own health care and improve the quality and efficiency of that care. Most articles written about PHRs have been published since 2000.

Electronic health records (EHRs) are a mainstay of HIT, and, since the passage of the HITECH Act in 2009, almost all hospitals and most physician practices have adopted some sort of EHR. Benefits of EHRs fall into 3 major categories: 1) quality, outcomes, and safety, 2) efficiency, productivity, and cost reduction, and 3) service and satisfaction. Many challenges to adoption and usage of EHRs exist. High cost associated with the adoption and maintenance of EHRs can be a limiting factor to their adoption. Technical issues, such as lack of controlled terminology can affect the capturing of clinical data. Another technical barrier is user familiarity with computers. Older users are more likely to resist incorporation of computers into their workflow

The current function of our health care system is neither organized nor controlled in a way that help achieves a maximum efficiency because it is orchestrated in a very outdated fashion. The current Canadian health care is developed based on a system that was designed in the 1960s in order to privately protect citizens financially should they be hit by a catastrophic health incident. The concern for a patient’s privacy is so important that it has had a severe impact on the technological development of the Canadian Health Care system. Notably, Canada is one of the few developed countries that is struggling to cease the use of physical medical records, like paper, in order to switch to a more technology-oriented system. The use of slips of papers and fax machines may have been an effective system 50 years ago, but now all that it contributes to is limiting health facilities’ ability to communicate with one another because it considerably slows down the transfer of crucial medical records such as a patient’s history, medical diagnosis, and allergies. Thus, patients are left either to organize their medical records on their own or to hope that they will be transferred to a certain facility in time to receive

As computers, digital devices, and electronic health record (EHR) have become a significant part in delivering health care, health informatics ethics has emerged as a new set of standards in addition to existing codes of medical ethics (Hoyt and Yoshihasi, 2014, p. 219). It is comprised of medicine, ethics, and informatics in health care. As the International Medical Informatics Association’s (IMIA) Code of Ethics states, one of the general principles of information ethics pertains to information privacy and security (Hoyt and Yoshihasi, 2014, p. 220).

Healthcare today is impacted by technology and it is changing the way that we communicate and record the healthcare that is to be delivered by clinicians. Paper charting is in the past and almost obsolete due to the advanced technical equipment and computer technology that is available today. In this paper the background of using electronic health records (EHR) will be discussed as well as the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and how the privacy and security of EHR for patients are being maintained. An overview of EHR policies will be discussed also along with the ongoing evaluation of healthcare technology use and how it is being measured by organizations, payers and governmental agencies.

Electronic Health Records (EHRs) systems will support the use of e-health, it is very beneficial and is the most complicated type of health information system. EHR benefits include availability, accessibility, and accuracy of data (Ayatollahi, 2014). EHR works by involving other information systems in the field of healthcare. Clearly, regularization of other health systems will speed up the process of integration and creation of EHRs. When developing an EHR, the process is not an easy job and contains many barriers that will make accomplishing goals even harder. Before, the EHR is adopted, technical problems must be recognized and solved. The main barriers to the progression and adoption of EHRs include low amounts of national information exchange, not enough human and technical issues, problems about the adjustment of the process, a shortage of integration between health information systems, a shortage of databases, and problems with keeping health information confidential (Ayatollahi, 2014). Hospital information systems were established by private information technology (IT) companies. Yet, these systems were not reliable and different vendors’ products could be found in the market; to lead the projects and avoid replication across the country, the Ministry of Health’s statistics and IT

What is health informatics in Canadian health system? Health informatics transforms health care by assessing, analyzing, integrating, and applying health communication and informational systems (Anderson, 2007). Health informatics schemes are funded federally and implemented provincially in Canada with each province creating its own dynamic programs to help improve both the population and individuals health outcomes, enhance patient’s care and to strengthen the patients-caregiver relationship (Anderson, 2007) . Such programs are Ehealth Ontario, and Alberta Netcare. Electron Health Records (EHR) and Electronic Medical Records are usually used exchangeable (Gartee, 2011). EMR servers as a data source for EHR; it usually contains patient’s medical records and usually found in an ambulatory or acute health facilities. While EHR is the sum of the entire patient’s life history of his or her health records from different sources, which is usually kept in an institution such as an integrated delivery network facility where most health care providers can guarantee access (Gartee, 2011). This literature review is intended to amalgamate the key barriers of electronic health records in the Canadian healthcare system and to overcome these barriers for a successful implementation among the public and policy makers.