Electronic Health Records (EHR)

This article describes The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act’s (HITECH) “meaningful use” objective to create a nationwide system of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) in order to improve patient safety, quality of care, privacy and security. The authors point out that during the first two years of an EHR implementation, clinicians and hospitals must meet certain requirements in order to qualify for federally funded incentive payments totaling up to $107,750 per clinician. This incentive is meant to ease the financial challenges smaller practices might face as the United States works toward a more technically collaborative information care system, EHRs promise to provide.

The use of technology can be seen everywhere in the world today. One area which has seen a big push to add technology is the healthcare industry. Healthcare has now progressed to the age of electronic health records (EHR). The purpose of this paper is to discuss the evolution of the EHR, including the EHR mandate and the role of the Affordable Care Act in this mandate. It will discuss the EHR plan at Hackettstown Medical Center (HMC) to include the progress HMC has made with the mandate. This paper will discuss meaningful use and HMCs status with meaningful use. Lastly, the paper will define the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and what HMC is doing to prevent HIPAA violations.

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 2009, the U.S. Government passed The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, to promote the adoption and meaningful use of health information technology (Mangalmurti, Murtagh and Mello 2060). The HITECH Act authorizes grants and incentives to promote the “meaningful use” of electronic health records (EHR) by providers (2060). The effect is a high commitment to a technology-led system reform, urging a renewed national commitment to building an information infrastructure to support health care delivery, consumer health, quality measurement and improvement, public accountability, clinical and health services research, and clinical

The purpose of this discussion board is to describe the Electronic Health Record (EHR), the six steps of an EHR and how my facility implements them, describe “meaningful use” and how my facility status is in obtaining it, and to further discuss the EHR’s and patient confidentiality.

The healthcare industry is in the midst of a major change from paper based medical record keeping to electronic medical record keeping. As part of the American Recovery and Investment Act of 2009, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act was passed (Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, 2014). HITECH is the U.S. Government’s first major contribution to the change from paper to electronic health information technology by setting meaningful use incentive program for Medicare and Medicaid providers that met certain requirements. Healthcare professionals that meet the meaningful use criteria will be awarded financially, and those that don’t meet the 2015 guideline will be penalized. We live in an electronic world of instant access to information and by adopting health information technology we give providers better and easier access to more information which in turn allows them to make a more informed diagnosis and treatment plan for the patient. The electronic health record (EHR) is part of the new information technology. According to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (2014.), EHR’s provide many benefits such as improvement in the quality of patient care; improvement in the coordination of patient care; more accurate diagnosis and better outcomes; a higher level of patient participation in their own care; and cost savings for the practice

In a healthcare world that operates on stringent budgets and margins, we begin to see the need for a higher capacity healthcare delivery system. This in turn puts pressure on the healthcare organizations to ensure higher standards of patient care, and compliance with the reform provisions. However, these are the harsh realities of today’s healthcare environment, a setting in which value does not always equal quality. The use of technology can help to amend some of this by providing higher capacity care without compromising quality; this can be done with the use of such technology as electronic health records (EHRs). This paper will aim to address how EHRs influence healthcare today by expanding upon topics such as funding sources, reimbursement methods, economic factors, socioeconomic factors, business influences, and cost containment.

Technology has come a long way over the years and continues to advance rapidly. The health care system is greatly affected by the advancements in technology. An example of this would be the use of electronic health records (EHR). In this paper I will be describing the electronic health record system. How my facility has initiated the EHR with following the six steps and describe meaningful use and how my facility is working towards this. Lastly I will discuss how to maintain patient confidentiality with use of EHR, and what my facility is doing to prevent HIPPA violations.

On February 17, 2009, the HITECH Act was signed into law and gave doctors further incentive to adopt electronic health record (EHR) technology that would not only enhance their hospital and private practices, but also allow for better quality care and reduced healthcare costs in the long term. Though the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has expanded health insurance to millions of uninsured Americans and further increased the push for EHR technology, adoption has been slow due to various issues with implementation, optimization, interoperability, and cyber security. Due to these issues and the increasing $32 billion dollar government investment, the United States must look outward at the methods of EHR adoption in other

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act made an investment in the year 2009 to encourage the adoption and implementation of the electronic health records (EHRs)(Cite). EHRs incentive payments were authorized through Medicare and Medicaid to clinicians and hospitals when they privately and securely used EHRs for achieving improvements in care delivery by the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH). The healthcare organizations are expected to demonstrate meaningful use of EHRs. This rule of meaningful use has been implemented to strike a balance between acknowledging the urgency of adopting EHRs for improving the healthcare system and identifying the challenges that would be put forth

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 identified three main components of meaningful use: the use of a certified EHR in a meaningful manner, electronic exchange of health information to improve quality of care, and the use of technology to submit clinical outcomes and quality measures (Heath Resources and Service Administration, n.d.). ARRA includes many measures to modernize our nation’s infrastructure, with the “Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act” being an example. The HITECH Act is an effort led by Centers for Medicare and Medicare Services (CMS) in support of electronic health records and meaningful use (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CDC 2016). According to Galbraith (2013), the HITECH Act aims to promote the use of EHRs by providing over $27 billion in monetary incentives for health care providers that become “meaningful users”. CMS uses these core objectives to determine if a health care provider has satisfied meaningful use and is eligible to receive financial incentives (Galbraith, 2013).

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

In 2009, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act was enacted as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The HITECH Act supports the concept of Electronic Health Records and Meaningful Use. Meaningful Use is an effort led by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "Meaningful Use is defined; using certified Electronic Health Record Technology in a meaningful manner; ensuring that the certified EHR technology is connected in a manner provides the electronic exchange of health information to improve the quality of care; and that providers must submit information on quality of care and other measures

Electronic health records (EHR’s) have many advantages, but there are plenty of disadvantages. EHR’s were created to manage the many aspects of healthcare information. Medical professionals use them daily and most would feel lost without it. Healthcare organizations were encouraged to adopt EHR’s in 2009 due to the fact that a bill passed known as The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act). “The HITECH Act outlines criteria to achieve “meaningful use” of certified electronic records. These criteria must be met in order for providers to receive financial incentives to promote adoption of EHRs as an integral part of their daily practice”, (Conrad, Hanson, Hasenau & Stocker-Schneider, 2012).