Over the past decade, various industries have become more and more computerized. This includes the health care industry with Electronic Health Records (EHR). EHR’s make health care delivery more functional than ever. Menachemi and Collum (2011), tell us that EHR’s include patient demographics, progress notes, current problems, medications, and vital signs, past medical history, immunizations, laboratory and radiology data.
Over a lifetime, a patient’s data accumulates in a variety of different facilities. Providers used to depend on faxing or mailing each other important information and patient records. With electronic records, however, providers have immediate access to this information. Once the patient data is entered into the computer …show more content…
Rural areas often have some of our most vulnerable patients. These areas usually have small critical access hospitals where emergency patients can be stabilized for transfer to larger hospitals. The team at the rural hospital could have access to the patient’s medical history so that they would be up to date on any important diagnosis or medications. Then, once the patient is ready for transport, records of any lab or imaging results could be sent electronically ahead of them. This would allow providers to view them and have a plan of action before the patient ever arrives. Also in this same article they mention the benefit of teleconferencing or telemedicine. For example, a specialist could have access to records which would allow them to monitor and provide care to remote locations. Thus keeping the patient in their own community and in their own hospital (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2012). These are services that the patient may not otherwise have access …show more content…
He talks about a small two physician practice that adopted an EHR system. Over time it made capturing and analyzing patient data easier and enabled them to reach out to patients in order to prevent them from getting sick. They generate clinical data from the system monthly so that they can reach out to patients that are due follow up visits. One scenario given is contacting patients with diabetes when they are due Hbg A1C testing. The practice states that they use similar approaches to conditions like heart disease and hypertension. Before electronic health records the process of gathering the data was slower and more expensive. Now with EHR’s they can pull data as well as chart their progress in managing the patient’s disease. In this same article by Arvantes (2013), the physicians mention that “the hypertension control rate among patients in the practice has climbed from about 70 percent to more than 90 percent during the past few years” (p. 48). They reported similar increases in the improvement of other disease. The ability for providers to be more attentive to patient diseases and disorders means that patients receive better care, this in turn prevents the worsening of their conditions. After all, improved care and patient outcomes are the main goals in health care and in electronic health
Over a lifetime, a patient’s data accumulates in a variety of different facilities. Providers used to depend on faxing or mailing each other important information and patient records. With electronic records, however, providers have immediate access to this information. Once the patient data is entered into the computer …show more content…
Rural areas often have some of our most vulnerable patients. These areas usually have small critical access hospitals where emergency patients can be stabilized for transfer to larger hospitals. The team at the rural hospital could have access to the patient’s medical history so that they would be up to date on any important diagnosis or medications. Then, once the patient is ready for transport, records of any lab or imaging results could be sent electronically ahead of them. This would allow providers to view them and have a plan of action before the patient ever arrives. Also in this same article they mention the benefit of teleconferencing or telemedicine. For example, a specialist could have access to records which would allow them to monitor and provide care to remote locations. Thus keeping the patient in their own community and in their own hospital (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2012). These are services that the patient may not otherwise have access …show more content…
He talks about a small two physician practice that adopted an EHR system. Over time it made capturing and analyzing patient data easier and enabled them to reach out to patients in order to prevent them from getting sick. They generate clinical data from the system monthly so that they can reach out to patients that are due follow up visits. One scenario given is contacting patients with diabetes when they are due Hbg A1C testing. The practice states that they use similar approaches to conditions like heart disease and hypertension. Before electronic health records the process of gathering the data was slower and more expensive. Now with EHR’s they can pull data as well as chart their progress in managing the patient’s disease. In this same article by Arvantes (2013), the physicians mention that “the hypertension control rate among patients in the practice has climbed from about 70 percent to more than 90 percent during the past few years” (p. 48). They reported similar increases in the improvement of other disease. The ability for providers to be more attentive to patient diseases and disorders means that patients receive better care, this in turn prevents the worsening of their conditions. After all, improved care and patient outcomes are the main goals in health care and in electronic health