Disruptive technology of electric medical

Electronic Medical Records, Hitech Act, Electric Health Records, Medical Technology

Excerpt by Research Daily news:

Training workers requires further costs. There is the ‘time’ cost of making use of the system on a regular basis. Furthermore, various find the demands of making use of the system – typing into a machine as the patient discussions – to become profoundly impersonal and from the true nature of practicing medicine. Doctors and nurses want to focus on people, not on devices, and they view EMR as being a machine-driven attack into the approach they practice medicine. However , proponents of electronic medical records contend that it can be this prefer to ignore the routine side of medical record-keeping that often ends in bad remedies. The great benefits of EMR will be that they do require that suppliers enter all relevant info and ensure that patients sign necessary demand forms. And patient health as a whole will probably be improved in the event by using EMR, there can be side by side comparisons made between different individuals. Data trends will become even more readily obvious, complete, and simple to evaluate (Tennenhouse 2010).

The ‘flip’ side to the easy cross-comparison, however , is the fact there continue to be fears about compromised individual privacy. These are generally not unsubstantiated. “A January 2011 examine of seventy two healthcare institutions by the Ponemon Institute – an independent level of privacy and info protection group – identified that 96% reported sufferer data had been lost, stolen or ‘otherwise compromised’ in the last two years” (the level of resistance: Small procedures reluctant to implement EMR, 2012, Strike Exchange Media). Of course , HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) specifically defends patient personal privacy and was intended in part to answer a few of patients’ issues regarding how their data might be employed: “The Personal privacy Rule defends all ‘individually identifiable overall health information’ kept or transmitted by a protected entity or perhaps its organization associate, in different form or media, if electronic, conventional paper, or oral” (Summary of HIPAA personal privacy rule, 2012, HIPAA). Although physicians need to make sure that there are settings put in place and so the law is usually upheld used, such as encrypting data and properly teaching staff. Records must also end up being complete to be useful as well as when using pcs there can still be ‘gaps’ and errors in details. Also, data can be more challenging to get in the event of a great attack upon the system. Most of these potential disadvantages are however more reasons how come EMR is such a ‘disruptive’ technology, even though eventually its rewards likely outweigh its detriments.

References

Koriwchak, Mike. (2010). Physician resistance to EMR and why CPT should be substituted.

Kevin MARYLAND. Retrieved: http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2010/09/physician-resistance-emr-cpt-replaced.html

The resistance: Small practices reluctant to implement EMR. (2012). Struck Exchange Mass media.

Retrieved:

http://hitexchangemedia.com/articles/janfeb-2012/the-resistance-small-practices-reluctant-to-implement-emrs/

Summary of HIPAA privacy rule. (2012). Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Retrieved: http://www.hhs.gov/ocr/privacy/hipaa/understanding/summary/index.html

Tennenhouse, Dan. (2010). Digital medical documents: The pros and cons. Westlaw. Retrieved:

http://westlawinsider.com/top-legal-news/electronic-health-records-pros-and-cons/