The Pros And Cons Of Electronic Health Records
Electronic Health Record’s widespread adoption and standardization
Health Information Technology (HIT) is a rapidly growing field that involves sharing and exchanging healthcare data electronically. It is used to store and analyze health information (Hersh 2014). HIT includes Electronic Health Records (EHR’s), which are digital versions of patient paper records. EHRs have many benefits and drawbacks. The widespread adoption and standardization of accessible electronic health records are due to the impressing need to provide better patient care while reducing overall health care cost. EHRs allow the healthcare personnel to easily access patient records as needed. EHRs have embedded features built in to enhance functionality and improve quality of care (Menachemi and Taleah 2011). Overall, EHRs can improve accuracy of health diagnosis and reduce medical errors, thus enhancing decision support (Menachemi and Taleah 2011). …show more content…
Healthcare workers are reluctant to adopt the use of EHR’s into their practice mainly due to cost concerns (Shekelle, Morton and Keeler 2006). Smaller healthcare practices for example, may not be able to invest in EHRs for their business, causing a long-term concern. EHR’s have to be implemented, maintained and staff must be trained to use the system; features that are hesitant to some healthcare practices from a financial prospective (Shekelle, Morton and Keeler 2006). Another issue is that EHR systems can change clinical workflows (Menachemi and Taleah 2011). Currently, physicians are now focused on a computer screen versus real time interactions with the patient. Furthermore, privacy issues are a big cause of concern. Depending on the healthcare practice needs, adopting EHR systems can either be an advantage or a disadvantage to implement into their business
Health Information Technology (HIT) is a rapidly growing field that involves sharing and exchanging healthcare data electronically. It is used to store and analyze health information (Hersh 2014). HIT includes Electronic Health Records (EHR’s), which are digital versions of patient paper records. EHRs have many benefits and drawbacks. The widespread adoption and standardization of accessible electronic health records are due to the impressing need to provide better patient care while reducing overall health care cost. EHRs allow the healthcare personnel to easily access patient records as needed. EHRs have embedded features built in to enhance functionality and improve quality of care (Menachemi and Taleah 2011). Overall, EHRs can improve accuracy of health diagnosis and reduce medical errors, thus enhancing decision support (Menachemi and Taleah 2011). …show more content…
Healthcare workers are reluctant to adopt the use of EHR’s into their practice mainly due to cost concerns (Shekelle, Morton and Keeler 2006). Smaller healthcare practices for example, may not be able to invest in EHRs for their business, causing a long-term concern. EHR’s have to be implemented, maintained and staff must be trained to use the system; features that are hesitant to some healthcare practices from a financial prospective (Shekelle, Morton and Keeler 2006). Another issue is that EHR systems can change clinical workflows (Menachemi and Taleah 2011). Currently, physicians are now focused on a computer screen versus real time interactions with the patient. Furthermore, privacy issues are a big cause of concern. Depending on the healthcare practice needs, adopting EHR systems can either be an advantage or a disadvantage to implement into their business