The Past One of the many changes in the ten years that passed include the establishment of electronic medical records, also known as EMR. An EMR is defined as “an electronic …show more content…
All of the patient’s information is right at their fingertips and there are no worries about charts being misplaced or lost. There are more computers throughout the facility, including one in every exam room for proper documentation at every visit. Workflows have been updated for the nurses to start a new encounter form in the chart with the patient’s chief complaint, vitals, and medication list. The physician would then go into the room, be able to review the nurse’s initial assessment and continue on documentation for the remainder of the visit. Everything that is discussed during the visit is entered directly to the EMR. The use of paper medical records in the past has caused documentation to be “inaccurate, incomplete, untimely, fragmented, duplicative, and poorly documented information (Steward …show more content…
With the introduction of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), people who have not previously been able to afford health care insurance will not only be able to afford it, but will be required by law to have some sort of health care insurance. The ACA has created the ability for individual states to use federal money to fund their Medicaid programs so that more Americans are able to have health insurance. The Congressional Budget Office estimates, “spending for Social Security, Medicare (including offsetting receipts), Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and subsidies for health insurance purchased through exchanges will rise from 9.7 percent of GDP in 2014 to 11.7 percent in 2024 (Congressional Budget Office, 2014).” Health care costs will continue to rise as more citizens access health care and the outcome of the ACA is heavily