Physicians ' Use Of Electronic Medical Records : Barriers And Solutions

Implementing to electronic medical records has many benefits such as reducing medical record errors, accuracy, having medical record access immediately, reducing medication errors and improving patient care. Monetary incentives are given to providers who demonstrate meaningful use. For those who do not, they face reduction in reimbursement amounts. “In 2017, reduction in reimbursement is 3%.” (National Center for Medical Records, n.d.)

Statistics have shown that only 13 percent of doctors and 7.6 percent of hospitals have adopted extensive electronic record systems. Even more perplexing, the adoption rate is even lower for comprehensive systems such as clinical decision support, with rates around 4 percent for doctors and 1.5 percent for hospitals. Enhancing data exchange through a more secure network and improving patient care with the use of clinical decision support tools must become priority.

This is an increase over 2008, when only 38.4% of office-based physicians reported using fully or partially electronic medical record systems (EMR) in 2008. However, the same study found that only 20.4% of all physicians reported using a system described as minimally functional and including the following features: orders for prescriptions, orders for tests, viewing laboratory or imaging results, and clinical progress notes. As of 2013, 78 percent of office physicians are using basic electronic medical records. As of 2014, more than 80 percent of hospitals in the U.S.have adopted some type of EHR. Though within a hospital, the type of EHR data and mix varies significantly. Types of EHR data used in hospitals include structured data (e.g., medication information) and unstructured data (e.g., clinical

Electronic Health Record (EHR) system has the potential to transform the health care system from a mostly paper-based industry to one that utilizes clinical and other pieces of information to assist providers in delivering higher quality care to their patients; nevertheless, some health care organizations have been reluctant in implementing the Electronic Medical Record for various reasons. These include financial issues, changes in workflow, temporary loss of productivity associated with Electronic

In a world that has to shifted to a more technological approach, utilizing electronic health records can be a positive step towards advancing the health care industry with easier hospital administration, coordination, internal communication, and even easier access for patients’ to view their own medical records. But just as there are many benefits to switching to a paperless record system, there are definitely barriers and challenges that need to be overcome and improved for a smoother transition. Many health care organizations including hospitals, clinics and insurance companies have begun their transition from medical paper records to electronic health records over the last years with

The use of Electronic Health Records (EHR) has increase from 20% in 2002 (Burt C, Sisk JE. Which physicians and practices are using electronic medical records? Health Aff (Millwood).2005;24(5):1334–43.) to 50% in 2011 (Hsiao CJ, Hing E, Socey TC, Cai B.Electronic health record systems and intent to apply for meaningful use incentives among office-based physician practices: United States,

Electronic Health Records (EHR) become the promise of faster, better and more coordinated health care and this promise became a regulatory requirement for health care providers. The problems with paper medical records have been changed into new and different problems with EHRs. Many hidden factors affect the security and usability of EHRs. The goal of EHR is better clinical outcomes, improved population health, enhanced transparency and better efficiency in healthcare. However, the ethical use of EHR is dependent on its clinical users (Iyer, Leone, & Zapotochny Rufo, 2015). Today hospitals and providers settings have grown wired and dependence on the electronic creation, transmission and storage of data has increased. Many users who access the medical information has little knowledge about computers and have little intuition toward security practices such as logging off or locking the

Electronic medical record (EMR) systems are used to improve quality of care while increasing efficiency. However, there is little classified evidence regarding the benefits and costs of EMRs’. It is believed that by implementing an EMR system, there will be a significant increase in the facilitation of work flow and quality of patient care and safety (Bardon et al., 2003). The Cost-Benefit Analysis of Electronic Medical Records is conducted to estimate the net financial benefits or cost of implementing an EMR system in primary care. The hypothesis is that implementation of an EMR system in primary care can

One healthcare management related topic that is relevant to the current healthcare environment is the promise of convenience and cost-benefits that EMR (electronic medical record) systems claim to offer to the providers and staff that will utilize them. For the past 10 years, the U.S. government has campaigned and incentivized healthcare providers to adopt utilization of a certified EMR system. There are many reasons for this change. The change allows for efficiency, easier access to statistical data, increased safety, and decreased cost. The adaptation of an EMR system grossly influences the healthcare environment because it has initiated a huge shift in how healthcare is delivered and documented.

Securing the healthcare information is achieved by taking preventive measures. The importance of health care data security is a delicate issue and it is however important that basic procedures and structure need to be in place to protect patient’s information. Attacks on the mobile devices usually occur through the individuals of the organization by compromising integrity, confidentiality, and availability of the data which are the three main security goals. Manipulating the patient’s medical history by gaining access over the network through mobile devices leads to inappropriate treatment of the patient. If the attacker intrudes the Health Care System, he can take control over the servers that operates the medical devices and disable them

The days of paper-based records in health care are fading. It is widely believed that the broad adoption of electronic medical record (EMR) systems can lead to major health care savings, help eliminate medical errors, and improve healthcare outcomes for patients (Lynn, 2011). Because of such benefits, the Obama administration included EMR adoption in health care as a part of its overall agenda calling for "the immediate investments necessary to ensure that within five years, all of America's medical records are computerized" (Obama, 2009).

Clement concludes that to solve the first challenge would be to adopt a widely used Electronic Medical Record standard that is currently widely used by multiple health care institutions. Dr. Clement also concluded that in order to overcome the second listed barrier of Electronic Medical Record adoption. Two challenges must be overcome first. The first challenge to overcome would be to capture all physician gathered information and the second challenge would be to identify the minimum set of variables that are affordable and do not compromise the quality and outcome of patient

In this real world, securing health information has become more important. In any health care organization, privacy and security plays a huge role and is a shared responsibility. Health informatics deals with storing and retrieving of patient health information about methods devices and technologies. Increasing patient trust and maintaining information integrity is the top most priority in Health informatics and is the primary concern. It is important to maintain patients trust in their Electronic Health records as it may contain sensitive information which may have life threatening consequences. This may include financial and reputational damage to the individual and whole organization. Poor practices in privacy and security may amplify the

Managing the security of an Electronic Medical Record (EMR) system in a cloud computing environment can be challenging. Even without the addition of the cloud computing environment, the EMR system is vulnerable to the compromise of login information, unauthorized viewing or editing of medical records, and denial of service attacks. First of all, the data contained within the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) itself is sensitive. Inside the structure of an EMR, one is potentially looking to find patient data that pertains to identity, billing information, dentistry, cardiology, dermatology, mental health, and physical attributes among other forms of data. In many EMR systems, tools to provide security and privacy are implemented. In these

Electronic medical record (EMR) can be defined as an electronic record of health-related information on an individual that can be created, gathered, managed, and consulted by authorized clinicians and staff within one health care organization. There are two advantages and two issues of EMR in Malaysian Government Hospital that I will discuss in this paper.