Electronic medical records (EMR) systems are electronic versions of paper registers. The biggest advantage of EMR systems is that they can be accessed promptly and securely by authorized users. Varied information such as medical histories, immunization dates, diagnoses, medication, and laboratory tests can be stored in the EMR systems. Many hospitals use EMR systems to simplify data collection and reduce costs by eliminating paper use.
Should all systems be required to utilize a unified EMR?
All systems should use a unified EMR system due to the many opportunities it presents. Healthcare is not a single event, and over the span of life, people will visit doctors with different concerns. Without data, every time patients visit a doctor, the documentation process will have to start from scratch, so the process becomes completely inefficient. It also exposes doctors to many mistakes, including wrong medication and wrong tests and consequently endangering patients. Patients are not able to remember all tests, ailments, and wellness routines. A physician may recommend a test that has already been conducted and, in other cases, prescribe drugs that conflict due to a lack of information. Such a scenario presents a big issue in the healthcare practice associated with cost inefficiency. A unified EMR connects hospitals and practices, the services in the care clinics to the emergency units up to the ICU’s, PACU’s and the OR’s.
Every person across the healthcare spectrum can manage the care of the patients and gain the missed opportunities that accrue with consolidation and unification. The varied healthcare providers in the satellite clinics can view the care provided to patients, including medication, test results, past medical history, and other crucial information. Working together and cooperating in the provision of care within an institution, helps avoid duplication and over documentation, availing time to handle patients promptly. The need to update disparate software systems and keep them integrated is eliminated with a unified system. Reporting, data entry, workflow, and scheduling are managed, and the users have to learn how to use one system that has a singular log-in requirement. The bottom line is that users in a unified EMR system spend less time on the system and more time engaging in productive work and assisting people.
What role should physicians and other providers have in the development or selection of an EMR for their practice?
EMR is considered useful in improving excellence and competence and reducing organizational overheads. Physicians have a significant role in the development and adoption of EMR systems. Physicians are the significant users of EMR systems, and their adoption levels of such software affect the desired success after implementation. Physicians cannot be interested in systems that interfere with the workflow and the way they care for the patients. Therefore, their input in selecting and developing EMR software is essential. Increased efficiency is only possible if successful implementation is done. The main stakeholders, the physicians, have to be involved in the creation and selection phases for an enhanced implementation process (Yuan et al., 2019). The input from the physicians, including the tests, medication, and the general care process, has to be incorporated into the EMR system to streamline the workflow. It is important that the system makes the work of physicians easier, and as such, information from these can ensure the practicability of the EMR system. The best system is the one that is agile to support the changes that may be needed.
As the CIO for Pacific NW, how are you going to address the concerns of your provider staff?
The URMS was approved by the central committee but does not meet the elements of meaningful use. The Medicare incentive program reimburses each practice when it meets certain goals (Rathert et al., 2019). However, the URMS fails to meet certain specifications, including improving care coordination for the population and public health. The URMS does not coordinate the primary and specialty practices and fails to meet the Medicare productivity measures due to an estimated 30% decrease in productivity. The URMS fails to respond to other ERMS systems and the available patient information system for the hospital. As the CIO for Pacific NW I would present a detailed analysis of the facts to the central committee and the accompanying short-term and long-term effects. One of the areas to highlight is the inability of the URMS to meet the Medicare specifications, thus making the facility miss out on the reimbursement money. Also, the URMS system does not meet the needs of the specialty services, which is the cash cow for the business. This has reduced the income for the facility and affected the staff morale. I will address the short-term effects that are being experienced and the potential losses if the necessary steps are not taken.
What recommendations will you make to address the issues brought forth by the speciality services? Explain your rationale.
The specialty unit is the lifeline of the business since it generates the largest revenue. The employees in the specialty unit state that the system is hard to use. It fails to provide the needed information, and it takes the specialty experts up to 15 minutes extra to take care of patients. The delays have been affecting the productivity levels. The URMS addresses the primary care practice only and ignores the plights of the specialty services. Among the recommendations I would make is to explain to the central committee in detail the predicaments of the employees at the specialty unit and how it is likely to affect their productivity and, consequently, the revenues of the business. A lack of integration of the hospital technologies also affects the Medicare ratings, which presents a bad picture for the business.
References
Rathert, C., Porter, T. H., Mittler, J. N., & Fleig-Palmer, M. (2019). Seven years after Meaningful Use: Physicians’ and nurses’ experiences with electronic health records. Health care management review, 44(1), 30-40.
Yuan, N., Dudley, R. A., Boscardin, W. J., & Lin, G. A. (2019). Electronic health records systems and hospital clinical performance: a study of nationwide hospital data. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 26(10), 999-1009.
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