Essays on Meaningful Use

HITECH legislation and its primary goals

Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009 forms part of a stimulus package that was approved as law in order to champion the use of EHR (electronic health records). Electronic health records possess the capacity to transform the health care sector from a largely paper based sector to reliance on clinical information and other sources of information in assisting the providers to deliver higher levels of quality care to patients (Beasley and Sinsky, 2014). At its core, HITECH has five primary objectives. First, HITECH seeks to augment quality, the safety, efficacy of health care ...

Health care has always focused primarily on the health of the individual. That focus, however, is shifting toward a new paradigm that encompasses population health, as well. On a federal level, individual health care has greatly shifted toward an emphasis on rural health care, and on a state level, meaningful use and state initiatives have also begun to stress the importance of overall population health – both shifts resulting in positive consequences for health care. Part of the shift toward public health is evidenced by the sheer amount of funding that rural care receives. On August 11, 2016, a total ...

Approaches in configuring Clinical Decision Support (CDS) System

The development of an effective CDS system to facilitate the healthcare delivery of a chain of hospitals and outpatient clinics warrants the systematic incorporation of clinical guidelines, documentation templates, patient summaries, HPI and medication history recording tools, condition-specific orders and diagnostic support system across the electronic health record (EHR) (CMS, CLINICAL DECISION SUPPORT:More Than Just ‘Alerts’ Tipsheet, 2014). The association of these approaches in EHR is warranted in the context of incorporating the entire aspects of patient care to facilitate the patient outcomes across the clinical settings. The EHR across clinical settings requires the effective incorporation of the research ...

Among the notable congresswomen in the USA is Renee Ellmers who is the North Carolina’s 2nd District representative since her first election in 2010. As a nurse, she has remained an outstanding healthcare policy maker sponsoring and supporting several bills that have led to changes in healthcare service delivery in the USA. On January 16, 2015, Ellmers introduced H.R. 398-a bill to train healthcare workers on trafficking with the aim of empowering them to identify victims of trafficking and respond appropriately and on time. In this regards, the bill proposed that government agencies would collaborate to create a ...

Meaningful use is aimed at using certified electronic health record (EHR) technology to capture and share data, advance clinical processes and improve patient outcomes. Stage 3 standards are primarily concerned with improving health outcomes of the patient. This can be achieved through health information exchange, making the meaningful use program more flexible, public health reporting, coordination of care through patient engagement and accessing information electronically by patients. Eligible providers and eligible hospitals must attest to above objectives to qualify for CMS incentive programs. However, meaningful use objectives for providers and hospitals differ to some extent. There are ten objectives ...

Objective one

Data integrity to the ability of the data collected to be complete, accurate and consistent. In other words, the data remains unaltered and intact. The health records need to depict such characteristics for they serve a lot of purpose concerning detecting trends which in turn are used to implement policies and guidelines for improving health care practices (Perkins & Schmidt, 2012). The health records are electronic, and so there is need to update the information regularly to ensure accuracy. Therefore, the first policy is to provide the accurate identity of the patients either via their identity cards or driving licenses. ...

Electronic health records are a collection of information concerning patients that are organized and well stored electronically in digital formats. Patient’s information that can be found in the EHR includes diagnosis, treatment plans, radiology images, laboratory and test results, and allergies (EHR Incentive Programs, 2016). The use of this system in the healthcare sector has been a major improvement and, therefore, there is the need to undertake a research on the meaningful use of the Electronic Health Records (Wright et al., 2013). EHRs enable the sharing of information between healthcare providers and organizations. The enactment of the information ...

Abstract

This study analyzes the benefits and challenges of implementing an electronic medical system in both hospital and clinic environments. The overall research problem addressed in this study is determining how to effectively manage and communicate expectations associated with perceived benefits and challenges derived from a new install of an electronic medical record. The purpose of this study is to analyze perceptions associated with both the benefits and challenges derived from installing an electronic medical record system. This problem is relevant to many such as those who ...

Meaningful Use: Overview and Implications

Healthcare information technology is increasingly being recognized by healthcare providers and policymakers as a tool for providing high-quality and efficient care (American Hospital Association, 2010). Electronic health records have in particular received attention from policymakers. This attention is in the form of economic stimulus legislation and healthcare reforms: targeted information technology regulations have been introduced that incentivize adoption of electronic health records by hospitals and professional healthcare providers to enhance the well-being of Americans (Sensmeier, 2010). The impact of the adoption and meaningful use of electronic health records has been experienced on multiple fronts.

Overview of Meaningful Use

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid ( ...

The title of the article is “Electronic Health Record: Driving Evidence-Based Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections (CAUTI) Care Practices.” The lone author is a master’s prepared nurse who participated in the implementation of the quality improvement (QI) project. The article was published in the Online Journal of Issues in Nursing (OJIN) of the American Nurses Association. The ANA states that the OJIN is a peer-reviewed and scholarly publication. The problem addressed by the article is the incidence of CAUTI coupled with the lack of documentation of the clinical evidence that served as basis for urinary catheter insertion despite the availability ...

Critical Thinking

There is no arguing over the pervasive role of technology, especially information technology, especially in the field of medicine and the health sciences. A major area of health information technology (HIT) is biomedical informatics, which is the interdisciplinary technology field that synthesizes biomedical data, information and knowledge and relates them to scientific inquiry, problem-solving and decision-making with the end in view to impact positively on human health (Hsu, Markey and Wang, 2013). Biomedical imaging informatics (BMII) emerged as a subfield of biomedical informatics that tackles all concerns of biomedical informatics, including the social and behavioral considerations in the design and ...

INFLUENCE OF TECHNOLOGY ON EMPLOYMENT

INFLUENCE OF TECHNOLOGY ON EMPLOYMENT Advancement in technology in the recent past is having serious issues in the world. In particular technology is replacing people in many jobs. During the first industrial revolution between the 18th and 19th century, steam power took over manual jobs in the industrial, during the second industrial revolution saw machines powered with fossil fuels and cola replace humans in the work places. However, economic growth created more jobs for those displaced. Today, the third phase of industrial revolution is causing massive unemployment rates due advancement in technology. How shall technology affect the ...

There are various benefits associated with the eligible use professional such as the doctors of optometry, Chiropractors, dental surgeons, and podiatry (“Eligible Professionals sand Eligible hospitals,” n.d). First, they shall gain from the incentive payments provided to them. Apart from the incentives, they shall be able to access information quickly to diagnose a problem and, therefore, shall provide the best services. The meaningful use providers shall benefit from the coordination of care since information can be shared instantly under the meaningful use approaches. The possible major limitation is the fact that situation do not occur simultaneously or in complete resemblance ...

Technology 101

Re-locatable Power Taps Re-locatable power taps are also commonly known as power outlet strips. They consist of an attachment plug on one side that plugs directly to a permanent power receptacle and multiple power receptacles terminated in a single enclosure on the other side. A flexible power cord joins the two sides together. The rule of thumb that needs careful observation is that power taps must always connect to a permanently installed circuit receptacle. For safety reasons, they should never at any one time connect to another power tap, an action commonly referred to as daisy-chaining. Power taps are only suitable ...

Nowadays, information of healthcare institutions, providers, and patients are usually communicated via mail or fax. However, this method of communication of information is slow, less secure, and costly. These drawbacks are solved by the Direct Project, a set of standards and services aimed at improving the transport of health information, for a faster, more secure, and less expensive way of exchange of information between healthcare-giving entities. The Direct Project emphasizes on technical standards and services (and not the actual content exchanged) to facilitate easy and reliable method of communication with an aim for more advanced levels of interoperability than simple ...

- Definition of EHR It is vital and relevant in the present times to understand what exactly is EHR? One definition is that “Electronic health records or EHR is the managing of patient care electronically by utilizing a whole range of data capture and retrieval methods. This, in turn, supports patient review, encounter, and follow up. It is possible to move all of the patient information accession to records in multiple locations, without the involvement of patient charts, by using the electronic environments for data retrieval and documentation”. - Components of an EHR For incentive payments, it ...

Introduction

In the current dynamic world, there is a huge need for organizations to avail a method of syncing various consumer related information so as to avail quality customer service. This is particularly very vital in the healthcare sector where even the smallest bit of information can play a significant role in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of patients. This paper aims to explore an example of a technology in the healthcare sector that has enabled the syncing of patient related information between various healthcare providers. The technology in question is Health Information Exchange commonly abbreviated as HIE. The paper will begin by defining ...

Health is vied as one of the paramount pillars in the economy of any country. Heath citizens produce health workforce, which drive the economy positively. In developing countries where health economics is highly vulnerable, health departments have been reluctant to keep records of their citizens. Consequently, it is difficult for a country to realize the harzoudous diseases that threaten the stability of a country. This is attributed to the traditional manual entry of health records. The Federal government of United States in its quest to reform the health sector enacted the Health Information for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act) ...

Background: An Electronic Health Record (EHR) system is now a standard method of using information technology within the healthcare industry. Smaller clinics and practices that remain on paper systems need to seriously consider making this capital expenditure (Blumental and Tavenner, 2010). Issue: Our practice has long relied upon paper records for its patient background and treatment information. Paper-based record systems suffer from significant limitations such as difficulty in searching for specific information, issues with handwriting, and problems with physical space, accessibility, and sharing within and outside the organization (Ayatollabi, Bath, and Goodacre, 2009). Proposed approach: EHR systems are ...

In “Finding the Meaning in Meaningful Use,” Classen & Bates (2011) discuss the concept of “meaningful use” as it is applied to electronic health records (EHRs). In essence, the stipulations of the HITECH Act that note that providers should adopt EHRs as well as “use them in ways that would improve quality, safety, and efficiency” are not being adopted as effectively as they could be (p. 855). While HIT has the ability to meet the requirements of meaningful use, it must also be tempered with the proper experience and expertise to utilize HIT effectively. The authors recommend that provides have ...

Introduction

The centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) have stipulated a set of standards that govern the utilization of electronic health records in all hospital settings in the United States. These records permit eligible hospitals and providers to earn incentives by attaining specific criteria. This is termed as Meaningful use of electronic health records. The main aim of using electronic health records as a meaningful use is to improve health care service delivery in the United States. This is achieved through the promotion of health IT as well as electronic health data exchange (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2012).

Background

It is ...

Technology in nursing has been touted as a means for promoting the free exchange of information as it protects the privacy of patients and improves efficiency and quality of care (Agrawal, 2009). However, the potential benefits of technology have not yet been realized fully largely because of lack of adoption of standardized technology for creating the needed infrastructure for attaining these goals (Blumenthal & Tavenner, 2010). Some nurses have only seen the various technological changes in the nursing profession as just normal changes but have not utilized these changes for the benefit they come with (Carayon et al. 2010). The compelling ...

Technology in nursing has been touted as a means for promoting the free exchange of information as it protects the privacy of patients and improves efficiency and quality of care (Agrawal, 2009). However, the potential benefits of technology have not yet been realized fully largely because of lack of adoption of standardized technology for creating the needed infrastructure for attaining these goals (Blumenthal & Tavenner, 2010). Some nurses have only seen the various technological changes in the nursing profession as just normal changes but have not utilized these changes for the benefit they come with (Carayon et al. 2010). The compelling ...

Abstract

Electronic prescribing has become a status quo in the medical industry and is considered a significant transformation in the healthcare business. Adoption of this system is encouraged by some state and federal programs that provided technological support for its successful implementation. This technology offers a wider range of convenience, efficiency and accuracy on the medication workflow process. Physicians and pharmacists have acknowledged the benefits of e-prescribing and the rewards that they may obtain in implementing the system. However, there were apprehensions among medical professionals in adopting the system. . Some medical practitioners lack the willingness to change and embrace opportunities for improvements ...

Strategic management aligns an organization with its environment. This environment includes everything from general technological innovations, industry, competition, financial trends, regulation and politics, and customer preferences. Ideally, it should interface smoothly with business process management that governs an organization’s internal structure. Briefly, “anything an organization does in response to the changing environment is a "strategy" being pursued presumably to align the organization with its environment.” . The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) enacted in 2009 is an example of an environmental change. HITECH stipulates that healthcare providers receive compliance incentives up to 2015 to ...