EHR Case Study Essay
Case Study: Implementation on EHR By Paula Traver Southern New Hampshire University
Electronic health records (EHR) are being applied in healthcare systems for the dual purpose of improving healthcare quality and decreasing operating costs. More than 50% of doctors and other eligible providers have received Medicare or Medicaid incentive payments for implementation of EHRs and over 80% of hospitals successfully incorporated the EHR by the end of 2013 thus getting incentive payments (Business Wire, 2013). Emergency departments are faced with problems such as overcrowding, job stress, skeleton crews and work flow interruptions. The main concern for introducing the EHR is if it will improve …show more content…
The hospital began a system wide EHR in 2008. This was phased over a two year period deadline was November 11, 2009.
The H1N1 flu pandemic began in the late summer of 2009 thus causing a very sharp inflow in patient volumes in the Emergency Department. An on-site clinic run by non ER providers was started to accept those patients with flu symptoms. The on-site clinic was seeing 50-60 patients per day within a 2 week period (J. AM Med Inform Assoc, 2011). This was approximately 10-20% of the daily volume of the Emergency Department. By early November 2009 the number of flu patients had declined.
The on-site clinic remained open for the implementation of the new EHR in the emergency room in an attempt to redirect the number of patients whose level of illness was low. The numbers of providers were increased by 10-15% and the nursing staff was increased by 15-20 % (J. AM Med Inform Inform Assoc, 2011). Physicians and nursing providers termed “superusers” were added on-site who did not take care of the patients but were there to support the staff in using the EHR. They were used for 2 weeks immediately following the carrying out of the
Electronic health records (EHR) are being applied in healthcare systems for the dual purpose of improving healthcare quality and decreasing operating costs. More than 50% of doctors and other eligible providers have received Medicare or Medicaid incentive payments for implementation of EHRs and over 80% of hospitals successfully incorporated the EHR by the end of 2013 thus getting incentive payments (Business Wire, 2013). Emergency departments are faced with problems such as overcrowding, job stress, skeleton crews and work flow interruptions. The main concern for introducing the EHR is if it will improve …show more content…
The hospital began a system wide EHR in 2008. This was phased over a two year period deadline was November 11, 2009.
The H1N1 flu pandemic began in the late summer of 2009 thus causing a very sharp inflow in patient volumes in the Emergency Department. An on-site clinic run by non ER providers was started to accept those patients with flu symptoms. The on-site clinic was seeing 50-60 patients per day within a 2 week period (J. AM Med Inform Assoc, 2011). This was approximately 10-20% of the daily volume of the Emergency Department. By early November 2009 the number of flu patients had declined.
The on-site clinic remained open for the implementation of the new EHR in the emergency room in an attempt to redirect the number of patients whose level of illness was low. The numbers of providers were increased by 10-15% and the nursing staff was increased by 15-20 % (J. AM Med Inform Inform Assoc, 2011). Physicians and nursing providers termed “superusers” were added on-site who did not take care of the patients but were there to support the staff in using the EHR. They were used for 2 weeks immediately following the carrying out of the