Question
A hospital system has acquired a cancer treatment center that does not currently have an electronic health record system.
*Complete the two-system merger interactive scenario to get started.
Then briefly research the functions, significance, and factors that affect implementation of EHR technology discussed in the textbook.
*Compose your paper discussing each listed component in APA format, citing a minimum of two scholarly resources
Achieving Interoperability in Times of Change
Several health facilities are adopting the emerging technology-enabled solutions to improve care delivery and to minimize the related costs. Currently, in response to the rapidly changing customer needs, most healthcare systems are focusing on features beyond pricing to create consumer-centric business models. The critical components of such frameworks are technologies like electronic health record systems (EHRs) among others. Notably, the implementation of EHRs in health care settings began after the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act incentivized the digitization of patients’ records (HealthIT.gov, 2019). Although the full implementation and interoperability of EHRs are far from fruition, improved health care delivery and efficiency have been noted by physicians who have already adopted the system.
For the hospital’s cancer treatment center to transition from the traditional paper record system to the EHR system successfully, there has to be evidence of meaningful use of the system. According to a proposal by the HITECH Act, an effective system merger should have a timeline of about five years (Reisman, 2017). During this period, the hospital structure is subjected to three trial phases, with each stage recording a targeted measure. The initial step of EHR implementation focuses on patients’ data entry, while the second stage involves employingadvanced clinical processes, such as electronically transmitting the patient care summaries across multiple settings. Finally, the patient’s health outcomes and the ease of access to data are used as the tests of system efficiency (Reisman, 2017). Markedly, the target measures were established by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to report on the improvement in efficiency, quality, and security of patient care.
An EHR system implementation goal is to achieve interoperability across all the health system settings. The cancer center will have successfully transitioned to the EHR system when the hospital’s physicians manage to share their patients health records with other clinicians regardless of the software in use. However, since EHR legislation, CMS has recorded low successful transitioning rates. Notably, only 12% of clinicians were able to mark the second stage of system meaningful use after the proposed five years (Reisman, 2017). Therefore, despite the value created by implementing EHR systems, sharing of data across multiple health systems could be difficult due to the different software systems that are utilized.
EHRs have the potential of improving the population health outcomes by ensuring efficient management of the patients’ medical records. The electronic sharing of data by physicians enables caregivers to exercise preventive health measures. Moreover, the patients’ ease of medical records accessibility reduces the malpractice claims as compared to the previous paper files (Bajwa et al,. 2020). Therefore, with the readily available information about a patient’s history of treatment, medical facilities can prescribe effective medication management.
EHR Implementation improves the hospital’s caregiving standards, which influences the entity’s qualification for incentives. To encourage the digitization of patients’ medical records, the HITECH Act sponsors incentive programs that promote the expansion and use of EHRs by registered medical centers and professional clinicians (Reisman, 2017). Additionally, the digital files are significant in that they enable medical practitioners to place any treatment orders at high speeds without filing paperwork (Bajwa et al., 2020). Therefore, the organization can minimize the utilization of resources and at the same time improve its care provision outcomes.
The installation of the new medical systems also has a few drawbacks. Notably, the implementation costs of EHRs are considerably high, and medical practitioners take time to learn and use the system; hence, the hospital’s workflow could be affected (Delisle, McLamb, & Inch, 2019). Generally, implementation of the digital systems may lead to disruption of the hospital activities, thus resulting in loss of productivity and revenues.
Despite the practice of a particular health system, EHR’s interoperability serves as a complex undertaking for efficient health care delivery. Consequently, while there is empirical evidence of EHR improved health care delivery and reduced medical errors, the applicability of the new system remains low in medical facilities. The new cancer treatment facility would improve its patient’s health if it successfully transitions to EHR system and achieves interoperability of the health records. Also, the HITECH incentive programs would help reduce the transitioning costs and contribute to the practitioner’s professional development. Indeed, EHR systems are commendable in healthcare; however, facilities should enact strategic approaches to ensure they are successfully implemented and integrated.
References
Bajwa, N. K., Singh, H., & De, K. K. (2020). Critical success factors in electronic health records (EHR) implementation. Virtual and Mobile Healthcare, 265-282. doi:10.4018/978-1-5225-9863-3.ch013
Delisle, D. R., McLamb, A., & Inch, S. (2019). Transformation and your new EHR. Communications and Change Leadership Playbook for Implementing Electronic Health Records,, 1-154. doi:10.4324/9780429447402
Reisman, M. (2017, September). EHRs: The challenge of making electronic data usable and interoperable. Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5565131/
HealthIT.gov. (2019, Sept. 10). What is an electronic health record (EHR)? Retrieved from https://www.healthit.gov/faq/what-electronic-health-record-ehr
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