Health Information Technology (HIT) involves the use of a digital format to store, distribute, and analyze health information. HIT is used between doctor-patient communications to improve the patient’s care. The IT professionals working in the HIT are involved in the technical side of managing health information using software and hardware to manage patients’ data. The professionals provide support to the Electronic Health Records (EHRs) management and other professionals to ascertain accurate dissemination of medical records adhering to HIPAA and HITECH rules and regulations (McInnes, 2016).

Health and financial benefits of implementing EHR

Improved health care and convenience

Access to the patients’ records is easy even in remote locations which ease the quality of care in the case of emergencies. Having all the information located at a central place makes decision making easy. Use of EHRs helps different hospitals and laboratories to access a patient’s medical history

Improved Patient participation

EHRs makes it possible for health professionals to give the patients all their medical evaluations. The providers can provide follow-up information such as web resources and self-care instructions which aid in improving the quality of health care.

Improved diagnostics and patient outcomes

With an accurate medical history of a patient, the medical professionals can check for any allergies, prior treatments which help during the treatment process. The frequency of medical errors during diagnosis. Qualified EHR checks for problems when a new medication is given to the patient and alerting the doctor in advance in the case of any potential threats. In regard to national disasters where casualties forget their medical history, EHR helps quick retrieval of their history and aid in saving their lives.

Time and cost savings

Use of EHRs assists in reducing duplication of testing which saves on the cost of conducting laboratory tests. Moreover, the administrative expenses as a result of filling of numerous patients paperwork. As a consequence of the use of EHRs, there is reduced transcription, storage, and chart-pull costs. The use of electronic prescribing reduces medical errors (Goldberg, & Feng, 2012).

Cost of implementing and maintaining EHR

Setting up an EHR system up and running is quite expensive. Some of the expenses associated with establishing the system are the required hardware and software, installation, training of the IT professionals and ongoing maintenance. There are other costs such as over-time-pay for the providers. Taking a primary care facility with five physicians, the cost of setting up an EHR system is $162,000 and maintenance cost of $ 85,500 within the first year. The IT professionals operating the EHRs needed 611 hours of training whereas each physician requires at least 134 hours to get fully acquainted with the new record system. The cost of setting up a file system for one doctor needs $ 32409. The cost encompasses hardware costs amounting to $25,000 for cables, internet cables, and wireless internet connections. The physician devices such as a personal computer, scanners, and printers cost $ 7,000 whereas the software and maintenance cost around $ 7,000. The software and hardware get obsolete with time hence need to be updated a price that is recurrent when using EHRs (Fleming, & Culler, 2011).

Security concerns on the use of HIT and the EHR

Despite the many benefits attributed to the use of EHRs and HIT, there are some concerns about the safety of the patients’ health information. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) plays the role of safeguarding the patients’ interests against the healthcare organizations. Some of the security concerns are the loss of data when transferring from paper-based filing system to digital format and intentional or unintentional access to health information by people intending to cause harm to the patients. The internal medical records are vulnerable to outsiders or people within the facility aiming at breaching the security protocols. The press may pay workers in the health institution to leak a patient’s medical records if it is perceived the information may attract many viewers mostly in the case of politicians. In the event of a breach of medical records, there is a possible consequence of identity theft leading to the tarnishing of people reputation and credit worthiness (Ozair, & Aggarwal, 2015).

The HIPAA conducts audits to EHRs systems to ensure adequate security measures such as firewall, antivirus, and encryption measures are established to avoid unauthorized access to health information. Other concerns on Health Information Systems (HIT) are errors when entering data resulting to missing data as a result of incompetency of the EHR providers. Compromise on the data integrity can lead to misdiagnosis leading to loss of lives. The electronic health record systems should undergo simulated setting procedures to check for any loopholes allowing undetected entry to the files without authorization (Prate, 2014).

Use of electronic health records in decision-making and problem-solving

Using of EHRs has facilitated decision-making process due to the integration of data in a central place. The medical professionals can quickly access the patient medical history to determine the treatment required. Moreover, use of electronic medical records helps to determine the appropriate medication since from the medical records the pharmacist can determine the patient allergy, needed refills and the appropriate dosages. In the case of emergency on patients with chronic illnesses such as asthma or epilepsy, use of EHRs in collaboration with the patient mobile phones can help manage the patient’s condition. The physician can quickly access the patient medical records and instruct on the appropriate first aid before the casualty is rushed to the hospital hence saving their lives. One of the components of EHRs is the pop-up reminders. The health care providers are reminded necessary appointments with their patients who improve the quality of health care and enhance patient safety. Moreover, the use of electronic health records helps to avoid issues of giving different clinical pieces of advice and duplication of tests. A patient receiving health care from various physicians can have consistent advice on their health and the medications given are evaluated to avoid unpleasant reactions in the body (Burton, Anderson & Kues, 2008).

Legislation imposed on the use of HIT and HER

With the increased use of electronic health records in medical institutions, need to regulate sharing of health information prompted Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act regulations to come into action. Legislation of HIPAA on EHR and HIT is based on two rules, the Security Rule, and the Privacy Rule. The Human and Health Services first proposed the Security Rule in 1998, and after deliberations, it was published in 2003. HIPAA requires the establishment of physical, technical and administrative safeguards to uphold confidentiality and integrity of the health records. Some of the HIPAA requirements to any facility using the HIT is to set up access controls and authentication processes, issuing unique user names and passwords for tracking the system’s user identity. There should be many audit logs to confirm the integrity and confidentiality measures are intact and safe from compromise leading to unauthorized access to health information. Other general rules by the HIPAA require ensuring the EHR providers to compliance with the security of the electronic Protected Health Information (e-PHI) (Gov, 2017).

References

McInnes, K. (2016). Health Information Technology Integration | Agency for Healthcare

Research & Quality. Ahrq.gov. Retrieved 23 April 2017, from

https://www.ahrq.gov/professionals/prevention-chronic-care/improve/health-

it/index.html

Goldberg, D., & Feng, L. (2012). EHRs in Primary Care Practices: Benefits, Challenges, and

Successful Strategies. The American Journal of Managed Care, 18(2), 48 - 54.

Fleming, N., & Culler, S. (2011). The Financial and Nonfinancial Costs of Implementing

Electronic Health Records in Primary Care Practices. Retrieved 23 April 2017, from