Healthcare Reform and 21st Century Healthcare Information Systems

Healthcare has changed a lot over the decades. There has been new technology, new medicine, treatments, and so much more. People depend on healthcare every day. For emergencies, and just for checkups. There have been goals that have been achieved, but we still have a long way to go. In order for Heathcare to be successful, it needs to understand patient's needs and what it takes to make and keep people healthy. Fortunately, we have the technology and resources today that allow us to perform work that we were unable to do 10 years ago.

One important thing within the healthcare field is to know how to keep up with those face expensive machines and systems that are being put into place. It's like getting a car and not getting the oil changed, or the brakes done, the car will soon be no good for you. This is the same for the systems. If they are treated with care, charged correctly, updated, cleaned, then they will not come as much help to our healthcare. With that being said, healthcare reforms have aided the path in results of quality of care greatly improved, and cost of healthcare is becoming lower. Healthcare reforms that have taken place in the 21st century have done more good than harm, they have enabled providers and their organizations to uses these systems more efficiently making an impressive change within healthcare.

Healthcare systems and programs have increased and improved more than we can tell. Even getting one major system could make major changed within the healthcare field. Over the last decade there have been many improvements with tele medicine, medical records, health records, bundles payment models, and CPOE. These systems take the stress of patients and providers. Patients can access their own information, schedule appointments without calling the office, request refilling of a prescription, and so much more. They can real time chat with physician about their systems to make a decision if they really need to go in or not. These are just some of the improvements that have been made within the healthcare field.

Telemath and Telemedicine

Telemedicine is a huge system within the healthcare field. Telemedicine helps the physicians extend their care outside of what they have already done. Telemedicine also allows patients to speak to a physician without physically visiting the doctor. This saves money and time. This was a major improvement for people in rural areas that don’t have the greatest access to healthcare. Telemedicine helps people video chat with physicians to talk about symptoms, and next steps. The patients re able to get the same advice and have the same conversations that they would if they made the trip to the office.

On the other hand, telemedicine has increased competition within the healthcare industry. If someone has a bad experience at a hospital or clinic, the chances are they don't use that facility again. People know it's expensive, so they aren't going to waste their money on a place that they didn't get good service from. The telemedicine has opened more work at home jobs which saves money for healthcare facilities. They can reach a bigger patient pool, while have flexibility in their schedule.

If organizations do deicide to adopt telemedicine with their facility, they have to make it known that their clinic offers it. You can't add something and it not be successful because no one knows about it. Patients may be skeptical and not want to try it out, but that’s no reason to give up. A lot of these new systems fall under the Affordable Care Act which help patients that use Medicaid, Medicare, and CHIP to be able to use these new systems to improv their care. Some facilities might not want the financial burden that these new systems bring, but over time if the systems are successful the all the money will be made back.

Eletronic Health and Medical Records

One major system that have improved the lives of many is the EHR. Within the past 10 years the improvements in the healthcare industry that have been made deal with data processing, data management, and database development. These systems have had a lot of clinical trials ad a lot of changes before they were adopted within the healthcare industry. EHRS allow healthcare facilities to collect and store everything in a digital format. This means less paper, less non legible handwriting, losing files, and so much more. This allows physicians to spend more time and focus on the patient rather than spending that time trying to find their file. These systems track patients visits, past and current medications, treatments, and so much more.

“An electronic health record (EHR) is a digital version of a patient’s paper chart. EHRs are real-time, patient-centered records that make information available instantly and securely to authorized users. While an EHR does contain the medical and treatment histories of patients, an EHR system is built to go beyond standard clinical data collected in a provider’s office and can be inclusive of a broader view of a patient’s care. EHRs can:

• Contain a patient’s medical history, diagnoses, medications, treatment plans, immunization dates, allergies, radiology images, and laboratory and test results;
• Allow access to evidence-based tools that providers can use to make decisions about a patient’s car.

Automate and Streamline Provider Workflow

One of the key features of an EHR is that health information can be created and managed by authorized providers in a digital format capable of being shared with other providers across more than one health care organization. EHRs are built to share information with other health care providers and organizations – such as laboratories, specialists, medical imaging facilities, pharmacies, emergency facilities, and school and workplace clinics – so they contain information from all clinicians involved in a patient’s care”.

These systems are only used within the healthcare facilities. ERHS flow the patient no matter what facility they are bring seen in. This system also tracks major things like lab results, immunization records, and overall medical history. The only problem seen with this system is transferring information to facilities that don't care the system. The file might be too large for the other systems or take a while to download.

EHRS is a system that has seen nothing but success. The implementation process wasn’t the prettiest, as facilities needed to be trained how to efficiently use them, and people were so used to doing it a different way.

Patient Portals

Patient portals are something that not only helps the patients, but also everyone else. “Patient portal is a secure online website that gives patients convenient, 24-hour access to personal health information from anywhere with an Internet connection. Using a secure username and password, patients can view health information.

Patient portals are an online platform where patients can access their healthcare information at any time, on any device. This is a crossing system that can be used in both clinical and administrative environments. Patients have a higher satisfaction if they can get the same information without spending money. Some people worry about patient portals being nit as secure, but that is not the case.

CPOE is a system that allows physicians to enter doses and instructions manually in a computer rather than using paper charts. Physicians can also enter tests and treatment plans. Pharmacies get medical prescriptions directly through CPOE which is a major advance within the healthcare facility. This also allows patients to retrieve the medication quicker instead of waiting hours, or even until the next day to wait for it to get filled. Many organizations have adopted this system to help minimize medical errors. Because of medications that are very similar, this helps reduce those errors because the computer will correct or catch those mistakes.

Conclusion

In conclusion the healthcare reform I would say has been very successful. There are a lot of systems that have completely turned around the healthcare industry. Healthcare providers are able to practice on a whole new level, they feel more connected to their patients, and so much more. The use of patient portals, HER, and CPOES have promoted the quality of care for patients. Healthcare changed on a daily bases, there continuously trials going on to see what will work and what wont. Patients feel more in control of their health if they can access it easier. Healthcare can only go up from here, and I'm sure it will.

References

• Authors, N. (n.d.). Computerized provider order entry systems. - PubMed - NCBI. Retrieved February 6, 2019, from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11696968
• How Telemedicine Saves Lives Around the World [2018 Update]. (n.d.). Retrieved February 8, 2019, from https://www.globalmed.com/education/why-use-telemedicine
• What is an electronic health record (EHR)? | HealthIT.gov. (n.d.). Retrieved February 6, 2019, from https://www.healthit.gov/faq/what-electronic-health-record-ehr
• What Is Telemedicine? (2019, January 29). Retrieved February 6, 2019, from https://vsee.com/what-is-telemedicine/
• What is a patient portal? | HealthIT.gov. (n.d.). Retrieved February 7, 2019, from https://www.healthit.gov/faq/what-patient-portal