Electronic Health Records: A Case Study

The control of development and generalization of medical technology is fragmented. Identify control points, and suggest ways to improve them. Distinguish the private and public sectors.
Medical technology continues to advance to the highest of levels in recent years; this has brought more and more attention to regulation at the federal, state, and professional level. Medical technology and the control of such technology has also become a controversial issue in healthcare today. The can almost be directly related to the rapidly rising national health care expenses and their relation to the technology. These costs are increasing, whereas, the benefits or effectiveness of the technology still have to prove themselves. The FDA is one control
point for medical technologies in the public sector. The FDA reviews and maintains the approval of medical devices and drugs, which is an absolute requirement before the drugs and devices can even be placed on the market. In addition to devices, the FDA also regulates new drugs (Longest & Darr, 2008). For example, our Medicare program has developed a process for making reimbursement decisions based on their assessments of the technology. Current debate has raised proposals to shift to the prospective payment based on current technological changes. Though, the private nature of the health care system and the limited leverage of the Medicare program limit the power of our government to make any immediate change.

2)
The electronic health record promises to revolutionize the delivery of health services. Identify the advantages and disadvantages for the patient and for providers.

Electronic health records (EHR) provide the opportunity for healthcare organizations to improve quality of care and patient safety.
They also represent a huge potential for cost savings and can also decrease organizational inefficiencies (Longest, B. J., & Darr, K. 2008).Electronic records have several advantages over paper records, the first being that it creates more space and storage capabilities for longer periods of time. The records can be easily maintained without worry of physical damage. Also, the records are accessible immediately from remote sites, to many people at the same time. The records can be continuously updated and they are available for use everywhere. An EHR can decrease the medical providers charting times and decrease the errors, which in turn, can increase the productivity of healthcare workers and decrease medical errors due to illegible notes (Longest, B. J., & Darr, K. 2008). Electronic records provide more accurate billing information and will allow the providers of care to submit their claims electronically, therefore receiving payment quicker. In contrast, the disadvantages include things, such as the startup costs, which can be excessive, however over the long run, show to be cost effective. Clinicians are the primary users of EHRs as opposed to the main users of the past, which where clerks. Another disadvantage to an EHR is that there can often be a learning difference between providers, clinicians, and medical record keepers so it is found
helpful if the users have some type of technical knowledge. In other words, systems must be user friendly; otherwise these systems will not be easily accepted, nor will they be used to their fullest capacity.

3)
Competition is a major force in health services, and marketing is critical to HSO/HS success.
What are the relationships between marketing and acquisitions and application of medical technology?
Give examples from your experience or the literature.

According to our text, medical technology and healthcare marketers facilitate the relationships between hospitals, clinics, and the public. As the cost and importance of healthcare continue to increase, competition in the medical industry is taking new forms and becoming more intense. Competition in health services, access, prices, and the amount of care received varies with respect to rural and city areas. Competition would depend not only on factors that affect the demand for health care services, such as the number of people who are insured and the scope of their coverage, but also on factors that affect the supply of those services in these areas. The meth¬ods of setting prices and paying for services vastly affect the sup¬ply of health care services by influencing the decisions that providers make about how many patients to serve and which treatments their patients will receive. Competition works well in some types of health care markets however, not so well in others. For example, with scheduled surgery where the care is planned and prepped for, the outcomes can be easily measured and patients have time to consider their options, competition can respond and react to the demands of patients. However, complex services
such as emergency quality of care can decrease due to lack of time and preparation (Longest, B. J., & Darr, K. 2008).