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With the advent of the Internet and advancement in technology, most industries, including hospitals, have begun to embrace the benefits of health information technology. This has led to medical practitioners beginning to move from paper-based charting to EHR. This shift has been instigated by the objective of improving communication by enhancing the sharing of information among physicians, reducing medical errors, better management of patient medical records, lowering the national healthcare cost, and improving the quality and coordination of care (Kruse, Jones, Mitchell, & Martinez, 2016).
One of the most common EHR technologies used by hospitals is the Hello Health platform. It is a cloud-based EHR that allows for detailed charting, documentation and has several practice management tools, such as E-prescribing as it is SureScripts® certified for prescription routing, and ordering and receiving lab examinations. In the Hello Health system, paper records are converted into an electronic format by scanning and importing printed records into the system. However, unlike other EHR technologies, clinicians do not pay for the service, while patients do.
With the numerous benefits associated with EHR, the medical industry has witnessed a slow adoption of the technology. According to Kruse et al. (2016), the main challenges and barriers to electronic charting include initial cost, technical support, and technical concerns. In initial cost, the person who is to pay for the implementation of EHRs is a primary issue as currently, healthcare payers benefit more than the stakeholders who finance the execution (Palabindala, Pamarthy & Jonnalagadda, 2016).
Moreover, other additional costs that will be incurred during regular system upgrades and maintenance discourage physicians and hospitals to embrace EHR. On the other hand, technical support constitutes a lack of technical and technology support and a lack of adequate IT staff. Nevertheless, technical concerns comprise a lack of interoperability and access to high-speed Internet.
Meaningful Use Regulations and Its Importance When Documenting In EHR
In 2009, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act was passed as federal law under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) (Slight et al., 2015). The primary aim of the HITECH Act was to promote the utilization of EHR by providing financial incentives. The ARRA committee proposed that for hospitals and physicians to receive incentive payments, they had to prove that they intended to use certified EHR technology in a meaningful fashion.
Meaningful use has no standard definition; however, it is characterized by three specific requirements outlined in the HITECH Act, and they include: utilizing certified EHRs in a meaningful way, utilizing certified EHRs in an approach that enhances the electronic exchange of information, hence improving the quality of care, utilizing certified EHRs to present the various clinical quality measures established by the Department of Human Health Services (Slight et al., 2015).
Meaningful use constitutes three stages (Slight et al., 2015). Stage 1 comprises of transferring information into EHRs and the ability to share the electronic data. Stage 2 comprises new paradigms, such as allowing patients to access their health information online, and the electronic exchange of patient health data among healthcare providers. Lastly, stage 3 is centered on implementation in which providers are required to demonstrate an improvement in the quality of care for the population served. Overall, by attaining meaningful use, a provider can reap benefits beyond financial incentives.
References
Kruse, S., Jones, C., Mitchell, E., & Martinez, A. (2016). Barriers to electronic health record adoption: A systematic literature review. Journal of Medical Systems, 40(252), 1-7. Web.
Palabindala, V., Pamarthy, A., & Jonnalagadda, N. R. (2016). Adoption of electronic health records and barriers. Journal of community hospital internal medicine perspectives, 6(5), 1-3. Web.
Slight, S. P., Berner, E. S., Galanter, W., Huff, S., Lambert, B. L., Lannon, C., & Bates, D. W. (2015). Meaningful use of electronic health records: Experiences from the field and future opportunities. JMIR medical informatics, 3(3), e30. Web.
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