Implementing Electronic Health Records

The lack of decision support software and integrated technology has slowed processes in health care systems for recognizing and minimizing medical errors. Enhancing the secure use and availability of health information enables people to collaborate with their healthcare providers, take control of their health, and enhance their overall quality of life and health. A well-designed health information system can provide numerous advantages that improve patient care. The deployment of Electronic Health Records and their impact on patient care will be discussed in this study. It will concentrate on the government health IT strategic plan and the goals that have been established. EHR are designed to share information from all the providers involved in the patient’s care (Kimmel & Sensmeier, 2002). They contain all the patient’s medical history including demographics, problems, medications, past medical history, vital signs and laboratory data (Boonstra et al., 2014). Some of the ways EHR can improve patient care is by decreasing the incidents of medical errors through ensuring clarity and accuracy of medical records. Moreover, it may keep health information of a patient reducing the duplication of tests and the delays in treatment.

Electronic Health Record

According to the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health IT, EHR was adopted in 2011 during the release of the Federal Health IT Strategic Plan of 2011 to 2015. The process was aligned with the launch of the EHR Incentive Programs by CMS, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. The mandate has since changed the ecosystem of health IT with 92 percent of the nation’s eligible hospitals and 75 percent of eligible professionals receiving payment from the EHR Incentive Programs (ONC, n.d.). The mobile health applications along other health technologies received great innovation (Kimmel & Sensmeier, 2002). To update the federal health IT goals, ONC drafted the Plan in consultation with over thirty-five agencies including the Federal Health IT Advisory Council.

The Strategic Plan

The Federal Health IT Strategic Plan of 2015 to 2020 describes the EHR implementation strategies of the government in achieve five goals. These goals are segmented into collect, share and use groups. The collect category has the goal of expanding the use of Health IT (ONC, n.d.). There have been federal efforts across the government to advance the adoption and exchange of health IT. The passage of the ACA, Affordable Care Act has significantly directed these efforts towards ensuring health IT can support more affordable care, higher quality and efficient delivery of care. This goal entails objectives such as advancing national communication infrastructure to support safety and care delivery. It also aims at increasing the user and market confidence in the safe use of systems, and health IT products.

The second goal belongs to the share group and aims at advancing secure and interoperable health information. It aims at protecting the security and privacy of patient health information. Moreover, it aims at enabling providers, individuals and public entities to securely send, find and receive electronic health information. Finally, the use category is comprised of three goals which include strengthening health care delivery (ONC, n.d.). This particular goal is concerned about improving the community and clinical community services and population health. The other goal is advancing the health and well-being of communities and individuals aims at empowering individuals, families and caregiver engagement and health management. Finally, the Plan has a goal of advancing research in innovation and scientific knowledge. In this strategic plan, the outcomes have been subdivided into 3-year and 6-year timeframes to achieve results (ONC, n.d.). The federal agencies and departments listed under every outcome play a role in achieving that particular outcome. The role can entail the use of their authorities and programs in advancing progress towards the desired outcomes.

Meaningful Use

Meaningful use refers to the use of EHR to improve the safety, efficiency, quality and mitigate health disparities. Additionally, it needs to engage the patients and their families, improve public health through care coordination and maintain privacy and security of the patients’ health information. It is expected that the meaningful use of EHR will lead to better clinical outcomes and population health outcomes (Wallace et al., 2013). The Federal Health IT has encompassed meaningful use in its strategic plan because of the specific guidelines it has set out for the eligible hospitals and professionals. It needs to achieve these guidelines must qualify for the CMS Incentive Programs. However, to achieve Meaningful Use and avoid penalties the ONC needs to follow a criterion which serves as a roadmap to effectively use an EHR (Wallace et al., 2013). The plan needs to incorporate a phased approach over three stages. The first stage should promote the basic EHR adoption and data gathering while the second stage should emphasize care coordination and the exchange of patient information. Lastly, the third stage should focus on improving healthcare outcomes. Adopting this approach will align it with CMS to ensure patient safety.

EHRs and Patient Confidentiality

HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) was created to provide protection for personal health information. Enforcement activities such as compliance reviews, complaint investigation, and continued education have resulted in an improvement of privacy protection. The Privacy Rule presents patients with special rights over their personal health information. The Federal Health IT Strategic Plan has emphasized confidentiality by striving to protect the privacy and security of health information and incorporating privacy in its plan (ONC, n.d.). Conclusively, confidentiality is very critical among professionals when handling patient medical records. Sharing of the patient information may need granting of permission by these patients (Boonstra et al., 2014). The adoption of HIPAA laws by the ONC in implementing EHR will, therefore, ensure the privacy of patient information.

References

Boonstra, A., Versluis, A. & Vos, J. (2014). Implementing Electronic Health Records in Hospitals. A Systematic Literature Review. BMC Health Services Research,14:370.

Kimmel, K. C. & Sensmeier, J. (2002). A Technological Approach to Enhancing Patient Safety. Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society.

ONC. (n.d.). Federal Health IT Strategic Plan 2015-2020.

Wallace, C., Zimmer, K., Possanza, L., Giannini, R. & Solomon, R. (2013). Anticipating Unintended Consequences of Health Information Technology and Health Information Exchange. How to Identity and Address Unsafe Conditions Associated with Health IT.