The United States of America has one of the best healthcare systems in the world, and has focused much of its efforts into developing new medical equipment and techniques for eliminating some of mankind’s worse diseases. There is a desperate need for providers to adopt a universal electronic health record (EHR) system, which will take the focus away from achieving a competitive edge and focus that energy on improving population health.
The EHR allows for the transmission of data between multiple healthcare organizations such as state agencies, hospitals, clinics, and federal agencies. It also assists physicians with clinical decision making by providing access to treatment plans and clinical guidelines that neighboring institutions have deemed successful. Currently, the federal government has promoted the use of electronic health record systems through the meaningful use initiative, but now there are hundreds of private EHR's that don’t share interoperability. Considering that more privately owned organizations have created EHR's, the health information technology field has now been overtaken with too many competitors. Electronic Health Records were created as a resource for helping patients, but many healthcare providers have seen EHR's’s as a way to gain market share and increase revenue.
A universal electronic health record system is needed to increase the quality of health care in the United States of America. This will eliminate the need for so many privately run EHR’s and place the focus back on clinical decision support. If the EHR's had one organization managing the data such as the federal government, then they will be able to control and eliminate any security threats. A universal system can still allow different healthcare providers to access the information, but the information will be open to everyone and not just a few regionally connected organizations.
The world has used technology to improve financial systems, manage governments, teach students, increase productivity and stay connected across a large geographical area. It’s time that we use that same technology to improve population health and create a universal electronic health record system. The entire goal of the EHR is to increase patient care by making information accessible. It identifies alternative procedures and treatment plans for different illnesses. For example, if a physician in Florida is developing a treatment plan for a thirty-year-old diabetes patient that works as a pastry chef. He can review similar cases from a Texas truck driver in order to create an appropriate treatment plan. A universal electronic health record system is a vital component that can drastically improve population health and it should be embraced and not feared. -Melvin Seale RHIA, MAT
A universal electronic health record system is needed to increase the quality of health care in the United States of America. This will eliminate the need for so many privately run EHR’s and place the focus back on clinical decision support. If the EHR's had one organization managing the data such as the federal government, then they will be able to control and eliminate any security threats. A universal system can still allow different healthcare providers to access the information, but the information will be open to everyone and not just a few regionally connected organizations.The world has used technology to improve financial systems, manage governments, teach students, increase productivity and stay connected across a large geographical area. It’s time that we use that same technology to improve population health and create a universal electronic health record system. The entire goal of the EHR is to increase patient care by making information accessible. It identifies alternative procedures and treatment plans for different illnesses. For example, if a physician in Florida is developing a treatment plan for a thirty-year-old diabetes patient that works as a pastry chef. He can review similar cases from a Texas truck driver in order to create an appropriate treatment plan. A universal electronic health record system is a vital component that can drastically improve population health and it should be embraced and not feared. -Melvin Seale RHIA, MAT
The Department of Transportation is now requiring healthcare providers to be certified examiners and these examiners need to submit all exams done on drivers to a federal data base. By having this data base, drivers will not be able to doctor shop in order to get valid medical clearances starting May 2014. This is a great step, using an electronic health record system to ensure safety for commercial drivers.
ReplyDeleteThe Electronic Health Record (EHR) is becoming very popular with every organization. The some major problems are who should see a person's record and who should have access to them. It is great when one system communicates with the other and a Provider can see a patient drug shopping or can stop a drug interaction. Thanks for the post.
ReplyDeleteAnnette