Health care is a hot button political topic in this day and age. Of particular concern across the facets of society is the health care trifecta: cost, quality and access. Health care costs are rising with no end in sight even while quality degenerates and access to care is limited. Many United States citizens may consider the American health care system broken, which is not far from the truth; the system has failed many. There are millions of medically underserved Americans that are unable to afford or access any kind of health care regardless of quality. These people are typically ethnic or racial minorities, the elderly, low-income communities, individuals struggling with chronic illness or any combination of these factors. Douglas, Dawes,
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Public health entities currently utilize EHRs to track infectious disease and cancer rates, but there is limited concentration in terms of application to special populations. Friedman, Parrish and Ross (2013) outline the use of EHRs in the field of public health, stating that electronic medical records serve to document chronic health problems and patterns in specific demographics (p. 1561, para. 2). Enabling public health officials to see where specific health problems are concentrated within a community can allow greater focus of prevention measures and targeted programs. However, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) recognizes only the bare minimum of race and ethnicity categories which have been adopted as the final rule in HITECH regulated collection of demographic information. However, there are disparities within racial and ethnic groups, as well as without, that require more defining characterization. For example, Douglas, Dawes, Holden and Mack (2015) state that among the Asian population of California, there are disparities in the rate of colorectal screening only seen in Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese persons (p. S380, para.3). To formulate a program to address this issue effectively, public health officials need the data that pertains to the actual area of inequity; in this case, the specific Asian subgroups. Any program developed utilizing the information that is collected with current EHR standards would be less effective. This demonstrates the need to expand the current race and ethnicity categories to include these types of subgroups in order to close the gap between policy objectives and the ability to complete those objectives. Furthermore, standards put forth by HITECH do not require the reporting of disability status, gender identity or sexual orientation on EHRs. Current government policy fails to acknowledge fringe citizens or specific racial and ethnic subgroups. Until these specific
Public health entities currently utilize EHRs to track infectious disease and cancer rates, but there is limited concentration in terms of application to special populations. Friedman, Parrish and Ross (2013) outline the use of EHRs in the field of public health, stating that electronic medical records serve to document chronic health problems and patterns in specific demographics (p. 1561, para. 2). Enabling public health officials to see where specific health problems are concentrated within a community can allow greater focus of prevention measures and targeted programs. However, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) recognizes only the bare minimum of race and ethnicity categories which have been adopted as the final rule in HITECH regulated collection of demographic information. However, there are disparities within racial and ethnic groups, as well as without, that require more defining characterization. For example, Douglas, Dawes, Holden and Mack (2015) state that among the Asian population of California, there are disparities in the rate of colorectal screening only seen in Chinese, Korean and Vietnamese persons (p. S380, para.3). To formulate a program to address this issue effectively, public health officials need the data that pertains to the actual area of inequity; in this case, the specific Asian subgroups. Any program developed utilizing the information that is collected with current EHR standards would be less effective. This demonstrates the need to expand the current race and ethnicity categories to include these types of subgroups in order to close the gap between policy objectives and the ability to complete those objectives. Furthermore, standards put forth by HITECH do not require the reporting of disability status, gender identity or sexual orientation on EHRs. Current government policy fails to acknowledge fringe citizens or specific racial and ethnic subgroups. Until these specific