Electronic Medical Records : Electronic Medical Records
Slide 2 : Electronic Medical Record: An application environment composed of the clinical data repository, clinical decision support, controlled medical vocabulary, order entry, computerized provider order entry, pharmacy, and clinical documentation applications. This environment supports the patient s electronic medical record across inpatient and outpatient environments, and is used by healthcare practitioners to document, monitor, and manage health care delivery within a care delivery organization (CDO). The data in the EMR is the legal record of what happened to the patient during their encounter at the CDO and is owned by the CDO. Definition
Slide 3 : Example
Benefits : Benefits It is estimated that the U.S. could save $11 billion annually if all medical payment transactions were handled electronically.
Part of the economic stimulus pack ($19 billion) this year includes incentives for those that use EMRs.
Accessibility
- looking for a patients medical records is time consuming
Drawbacks : Drawbacks Old patient records
Digital scanning is expensive and time consuming.
Destruction of the original copies must be thorough.
Cost
- Implementing these systems and software can cost hundreds of thousands of dollars depending on the size of the facility.
Ethical Situation : Ethical Situation Privacy
Large number of medical employees have access to these records.
IT security is facing challenges with wireless networking of the information.
Vendors
Not all software is created equal
Some have monthly fees, some are one-time and all charge different amounts.
Slide 7 : This chart shows the percentages of where U.S. hospitals are at regarding electronic medical records
Final Thought : Final Thought The governments new plan is to have EMRs fully implemented in 5 years with promises of improving health care while reducing its costs.
In my opinion it will most likely take longer than 5 years to get this fully implemented, and with over 5,000 hospitals, $19 billion is going to be on the low end of how much will ultimately be needed.
The End : The End