Having the opportunity to work at a fast growing hospital setting, I have come across different ways to which healthcare providers manage patient records or information. About three years ago my facility still relied on paper charting, this was time consuming and also had the potential of been misplaced and a possibly violation of the HIPPA law. An electronic data that helped keep patient records organized was introduced called Epic. This system improved the workplace by integrating different people of the healthcare team together and working towards the same goal. It helped enrich communication among physicians and care providers. It helped make discussion of patient information more private through a secured network. Time is a big factor in this technology change, it made available more time spent with the patients rather than sorting through paperwork. I chose this article because I have worked at different facilities that have a poor way of handling patient records and information. Tasks that could take minutes end up taking hours because of lack of resources. This technology has helped make both the lives of the patient and the healthcare providers much easier. This article talks about a company eClinical and their new way of integrating an already existing technology to a better one. Electronic Health Records (EHRs) was introduced by the company, its objectives is to “satisfy the objectives of enhancing the overall healthcare quality for patients while meeting medical staff practice needs to store clinical data in less time and effort” (Brecht 2013). The old way of looking for and pulling a patient record which is required for a paper based facility is becoming obsolete, and EHR is taking over. It enables physicians plan and prepare for a patient visit and electronically exchange key clinical information when requested in real-time with other physicians. EHR is steadily been used in facilities, only if the healthcare industry can prove it is able to safeguard patients records that are stored on computer databases, in the future. This technology focuses on the sharing of information between two different medical systems in two different places. According to the article, a requirement by the Health information technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act and by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) led to going paperless. The Act incentive program enables eligible general practitioners (GPs) access to patient-specific clinical data in Electronic Health Record (EHRs) systems. Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) and EHRs are used interchangeably; but the main difference is interoperability of an EHR, which improves clinical workflows, patient flow, services delivered and care efficiency. eClinicalsWorks strives to be on top from other companies by concentrating on technology advancements and support in interoperability. eClinicalsWorks also have systems in place to make sure the accuracy of patient identification in systems. This
