Implementation of EHR



Implementation of EHR

Introduction

In the year 2004, President Bush ordered for adopting the electronic health record (EHR) by the year 2014. It has been a challenging task for the physician's offices and hospitals for shifting to EHRs from papers. Although the adoption process of EHRs initiated around two decades ago but it moved on at a slow pace. This occurred due to the reason that there exist several barriers in the implementation of EHR and EMR.

Discussion

Due to steady technical advancements, EMR and EHR have become an integral part of health care delivery in US. EMRs/EHRs have the potential to improve management of patient care while supporting the overall effectiveness of the health system. Indeed, the EHR will allow health professionals to access the health records of a person whenever they need it.

Over the last few years, a number of factors led us to pay more attention to the question of adoption of EHRs. Many of these factors are technological in nature, but the changes in the delivery of health care and consumer expectations also have some influence on the decision to adopt EHRs.

Barriers in implementing EHR/EMR system

EHR system implementation is a long-term complex and costly. There are certain barriers in the implementation of HER/EMR systems. These barriers are discussed below:

Start-up Costs

Since this system implementation requires self-funding, many clinics and hospitals find it hard to raise enough funds for this purpose. According to survey conducted in 2011, the estimated cost per physician in a 5-physician practice during the span of first two months of adoption was $32,000.

Maintenance Costs

Once the system is implemented, the main factor is to provide proper maintenance to the system that requires human and technical skills. This adds up to the cost of the system per year.

Training costs

In order to ensure the proper implementation and ...