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Measuring the value of electronic health records objectively in a health care organization

Measuring the value of
electronic health records
objectively in a health
care organization


STUDENT NAME
6/1/2012
Measuring the value of electronic health records objectively in a health care organization
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................... 3
HEALTHCARE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (HIT) ............................................... 4
ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORD (EHR) ........................................................................ 4
Benefits of EHR over traditional paper health records .......................................................... 5
Disadvantages of EHR ........................................................................................................... 6
RETURN ON INVESTMENT (ROI) FOR EHR ................................................................. 8
Hard return on investment or Hard ROI................................................................................. 8
Patient Flow ........................................................................................................................ 9
Reducing and reallocation of resources ............................................................................ 10
Billing improvements ....................................................................................................... 10
How long is it taking to see a ROI and how much is being realized? .............................. 11
Non-quantifiable return on investment or Soft ROI............................................................. 12
DRIVERS AND INHIBITORS ............................................................................................. 13
Drivers of adoption............................................................................................................... 13
Ba
iers to adoption .............................................................................................................. 13
CONCLUSION ...................................................................................................................... 15
REFRENCES ......................................................................................................................... 16
Measuring the value of electronic health records objectively in a health care organization
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INTRODUCTION
Healthcare information technology (HIT) has started gaining momentum on account of
increasing demand for improved healthcare services at relatively lower cost. Various studies
indicate the inclination of healthcare facilities towards a new age of managing healthcare
ecords electronically, known as EHR or Electronic Healthcare Records.
Successful implementation of EHR ensures improved performance across the facility that
anges from improved billing to increased revenue per patient bed. This report highlights the
key factors supporting the implementation of EHR in healthcare facilities, and the ROI which
the facilities will generate post implementing the technology.
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HEALTHCARE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (HIT)
Medical technology in the healthcare industry has evolved rapidly over the last decade;
however, adoption of information technology in healthcare has not gathered momentum.
Though the investment in information technology in healthcare industry lags behind the
investment in other industries, it still accounts for ~4% of the healthcare industry’s revenue.
Increasing complexities and the need for quality healthcare services is driving the demand for
information technology in the healthcare industry. Healthcare IT or HIT helps in collecting,
storing, retrieving and transfe
ing healthcare related data electronically, which can be
processed into meaningful information as of when the need arises. The use of HIT
significantly reduces the dependency on paper, and improves the overall process of
healthcare services. For example: electronic health record (EHR) also termed as EPR
(electronic patient record) or EMR (electronic medical record), reduces the dependency on
paper records by digitalizing patient records.
ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORD (EHR)
As highlighted earlier, EHR is an evolving concept that collects and digitalizes patient health
ecords that includes a range of patient related data and stats like medical history, laboratory
test results, medication, personal information (like name, age, weight, height, and
communication address etc) and related billing information. Once created these medical
ecords can easily be used, stored, and exchanged. It must be noted that an EHR is generated
and maintained within an organization (hospital, nursing home, clinic and physician) to
provide medical staffs, patients, insurers and physician instant access to the medical records
stored in the facility.
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Originally envisioned as an electronic file cabinet for storing patient’s medical records,
EHR’s slowly moved up the value chain, thus forming an integral part of patient-tracking
system providing access to real-time information.
Besides the EHR, following are the other information technology systems prevalent in the
healthcare sector:
 Computerized provider order entry (CPOE): CPOE is medication ordering and
fulfilment system
 Clinical decision support system (CDSS): CDSS provides real-time diagnostic and
treatment recommendation
 Picture archiving and communications system (PACS): PACS captures, integrates,
stores and disseminates diagnostic and radiological images into various points of care
 Bar coding: Bar coding is used to capture data encoded on a product or device
 Radio frequency identification (RFID): Used for tracking healthcare assets throughout
the facility or the premises
 Automated dispensing machines (ADMs): ADMs distribute medication doses
 Electronic materials management (EMM): EMMs are similar to enterprise resource
planning software that enable inventory management of medical assets like
pharmaceuticals, medical supplies and various other related materials
 Interoperability:...