Assignment: Benefits and Drawbacks

Based on your own experience and/or research, what do you think is the top benefit for a healthcare organization to adopt electronic health records (EHR)? On the other side of that same issue, what do you think is the main drawback to adopting EHR? Explain your answers with specific examples of each.

Notes

Electronic Health Records

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) defines a qualified electronic health record as "an electronic record of health-related information on an individual that:

• includes patient demographic and clinical health information, such as medical history and problem lists; and

• has the capacity

o to provide clinical decision support
o to support physician order entry
o to capture and query information relevant to health care quality; and
o to exchange electronic health information with, and integrate such information from, other sources

Electronic health records (EHRs) allow for the systematic collection and management of patient health information in a form that can be shared across multiple health care settings. By providing easier access to patients' medical records, EHRs can help improve healthcare quality, efficiency and safety.

These systems can also promote use of preventive services, improve public health surveillance, and support research to improve population health. But despite these advantages, the expense of system implementation has slowed EHR adoption rates. Fortunately, there is substantial evidence to show that while initial costs remain a concern, converting from essay records to EHR systems will ultimately reduce health care expenses across the board.

Three compliance requirements may force change to achieve a greater response rate. Healthcare organizations are being required to comply with a series of adoption rates for electronic health records. These requirements are being driven by various incentives and penalties. The three compliance requirements are:

• Electronic health records ( initiated by the ARRA of 2009)
• ICD-10-CM and ICD-10-PCS codes
• Electronic prescribing for physicians and other prescribing professionals

Although there are incentive benefits for adopting the three compliance requirements, they do not come without costs to healthcare organizations. Healthcare management must make decisions about major costs including direct adoption costs and cash flow disruptions costs.

Cash flow disruption costs are related to the code set learning curve for all users. This learning curve will no doubt result in a greater proportion of claims being rejected for healthcare providers. Rejected claims lead to cash flow disruption, and should be considered when decisions are made about implementation costs and benefits.

Benefits of Electronic Health Record technology include:

• Reducing the incidence of medical error by improving the accuracy and clarity of medical records

• Making the health information available, reducing duplication of tests, reducing delays in treatment, and patients well informed to make better decisions

• Providing clinical tools such as: laboratory and radiology ordering and results viewing; electronic prescribing (e-prescribing); and clinical decision support systems

• Securing access to patient information remotely and from multiple practice locations

• Reporting events of clinical or public health significance quickly.