How has change impacted the quality of care?

Evolution of Health Care Paper and Timeline

There are specific trends from manual to electronic operations in the health care facilities, healthcare providers and similar businesses operators. The evolution has taken place within the health care providers, administrative data and the insurance plans as well. The health care industries have automated several procedures such as the supply of drugs and accurate record keeping (Loker 2012). Electronic health care uses sophisticated technology unlike the manual one; this advanced technology has been applied in the provision of health care all over the world hence saving both time and cost It has also widened and perfected the scope of operation.

How has this change impacted the quality of care?

The change to electronic medical records has proven to be successful and helpful in providing quality patient care. Some ways that it has helped is improving patient care, increasing patient participation, improved care coordination, improved diagnostic and patient outcomes, and practice efficiencies and cost savings. (HealthIT.gov). Patients are able to be more involved in the patient care process and are able to access to their records which was not possible in the past. The transporting of records from one physician to another is much quicker now because it can be done by a click of a button. When needing to send a patient to a specialist or when getting an authorization for a patient’s recommended treatment can be done a lot quicker as well. This is speeding up the process in being able to provide quick and quality care so the patient does not need to wait as long as they would have had to in the past.

Percentage of physicians whose electronic health records provided selected benefits

(HealthIT.gov)

Electronic medical records has proven to be a good thing for both the medical provider as well as the patient and it has decreased the wait times to results or any potential errors and enhanced patient care.

Did Societal beliefs and values influence this change? Why or why not?

The health care delivery system in our country has its roots in the beliefs and values of the people (Shi & Singh, 2012). The firm belief in technological innovations leads to higher expectations of people, which has fueled the growth in technological innovations. The culture of individualism has led the medical practice to keep the individual healthy. Patients tend to evaluate the institutions by their acquisition of advanced technology. The expectation of Americans on what technology can do to cure illness is higher compared to the Canadians and Germans (Shi & Singh, 2012, p. 168). The societal beliefs and values impact not only the structure of health care delivery but also the training of health care providers.

The use of EHRs provided access to patients’ records on demand and have improved the quality of health care (Shi & Singh, 2012). Although the EHRs were to improve the quality of health care delivery, many providers and institutions did not adopt them due to the cost involved in implementing them. Since a vast majority of the society expects the government to take care of their health, the government agencies play a significant role in passing laws and guidelines in the best interest of public health. To motivate physicians to use EHRs, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) offered incentives to physicians investing in the EHR systems (Tripathi, 2012). The adoption of EHR would mean the improved health of the individual and the population. The use of EHR has improved the relationship between the patient and the provider as information is readily available to both the provider and physician, which increases patient involvement in the prevention and coordination of care. Americans have become involved with their health care and has taken a shift to preventive solutions from being treated for illness.

Change affecting team views.

While the change from manual to electronic health records instigated substantial progress in the way health information technology was implemented and sourced, it still has yet to launch advanced use of health information technology in a highly operational healthcare system. In order for success to be achieved, systematic changes need to take place with medical payments. Making and receiving payments has been quicker with the use of EMR and the medical coding process. With everything being done electronically, medical payments are distributed quickly and efficiently. In addition to the requirement imposed by the Affordable Care Act (ACA) to use EHRs in health care settings, positive outcomes of using the EHR like improved patient relationship, quality of care, patient centered care are a testimony to the fact that the use of EHRs will continue to trend upward.

Time line of health records.

In the 1920s, healthcare professionals recognized they were more effective at treating patients with comprehensive and correct medical history thus paper medical records were kept. Technology continued to advance and the beginning of a new system was introduced from 1960 to 1970. During this time, patient data was generated electronically and stored at a specific facility, typically university healthcare facilities, but the patient data was only retrievable at the specific healthcare location. From 1980 to 1990, a major success was the roll out of the first database of patient information, called master patient index (MPI) managed by all divisions of healthcare organizations. Later in the 1990s, computer healthcare applications were introduced to the market but they lacked the capability of communicating with each other or being viewed by other divisions. In 1996, medical record standards were established and distributed to provider offices with regular compliance assessments. By 2000, electronic medical records were responsible for reducing medical errors and increasing quality care but a surge in accidental patient injuries and deaths prompted President Bush to appeal for computerized health records in the State of the Union Address in 2004. A major reform in the medical software and databases was underway. In 2009, President Obama passed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) which requires seventy percent of all primary care providers to implement Electronic Medical Records by 2014 (Brooks, n.d.). According to Healthcare IT News, “The most recently available survey data finds approximately three-quarters of U.S. nonfederal acute care hospitals have at least a basic electronic health record system which represents a significant increase from the prior year.” (Miliard, 2016).

Conclusion

Conclusion – Summarize the main points of the paper.

References

Benefits of Electronic Health Records (EHRs). HealthIT.gov. Retrieved from: https://www.healthit.gov/providers-professionals/benefits-electronic-health-records-ehrs

Brooks, A. (n.d.). Rasmussen College. Retrieved from http://www.rasmussen.edu/degrees/health-sciences/blog/health-information-management-history/

Loker, T. W. (2012). History and evolution of healthcare in America: The untold

backstory of where weve been, where we are and why healthcare needs more reform. Bloomington, iN: iUniverse Inc.

Miliard, M. (2016). Healthcare IT News. Retrieved from http://www.healthcareitnews.com/news/where-are-we-headed-post-hitech

Shi, L. & Singh, D. A. (2012). Delivering Health Care in America: A Systems Approach (5th ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning

Tripathi, M. (2012). EHR evolution. Journal of AHIMA, 83(10), 24-30. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/docview/1040421420?accountid=458