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Legislation
Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH Act) was passed in 2009 and “most of its funding will be to reward hospitals and eligible providers for “meaningful use” of certified electronic health records (EHR) by “meaningful users” with increased Medicare and Medicaid payments” (Murphy, 2010, p. 284). In my opinion, HITECH legislation has been a huge benefit for our facility. Since we went live with our EHR, patient's record are readily accessible online. We no longer have to call medical records to get a patient's records. Technology has allowed for our facility to scan old records into the EHR. The HITECH Act is pushing staff to chart effectively, and make sure they are using the EHR to it's fullest and upgrade as needed. As healthcare knowledge increases, our technology will continue to increase its capabilities. Our system also uses vital machines that flow into the patient's charts. In my opinion, HITECH has set up three stages to help meet meaningful use and to make physicians lives easier and patient information readily available. I feel HITECH is helping us use our EHRs to their fullest benefit.
Incentives and Quality
My facility has adopted, implemented, and now as upgraded our EHR to meet requirements of meaningful use. According to Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) (2013), to get incentives first year must adopt an EHR and years after make sure they are using their EHRs to achieve meaningful use by meeting objectives. Medicaid incentives amount is a maximum of $63,750 and Medicare incentive maximum amount is $43720 (CMS, 2013, p.16). The incentive amounts are not big, but the benefit of the EHR and electronic physician orders are a big incentive. Technology has allowed our facility to do many things. I particular like doing and EKG and it flows into our EHR system so the doctors can view it. Quality of care is better because of the EHR and HITECH's three stages to help meet meaningful use.
In my opinion, the quality of patient care has improved as we admit a new patient our EHR makes us ask patients questions and go over pertinent information. Our system has an initial navigator, so nurses and doctors have to check a patient's allergies, medical history, problem list, and much more. The technology has allowed us to see pertinent changes in vitals and labs, along with a picture of a patient and current demographics page. I find this to be helpful. If we have an up-to-date list of a patient's medical history quality of care is better for patients. My favorite part of the system is the capability of the patients to access their medical records at home with a system called Mychart. This addition has allowed patients to be more involved in their care. According to McGonigle and Mastrian (2012), EHR technology makes it easier for providers to access a patient's complete and current healthcare record, so they can make efficient and effective decisions about a patient's care. Patient care is bet
Summary
The article What POLS need to know:meeting “meaningful use” criteria for EHR incentives (2013),talks about physicians using HITECH to gain incentive payments by using EHRs to achieve benchmarks that lead to improved patient care. “Stage 2 mandates that a minimum of 30% of computerized physician entry (CPEO) of lab orders and a minimum of 55% of electronic results be entered into the EHR” (Trepagnier, 2013, p.24). Laboratory information systems (LIS) play a role in achieving “meaningful use” criteria because they establish connectivity between the EHR and lab instruments making the results readily available (p. 24). The labs flow into the EHR making them readily available to physicians. The LIS interfaced to the EHR makes results automatically entered into the patient record and helped physicians comply with meaningful use criteria (Trepagnier, 2013). The use of an in house laboratory and LIS is helping physicians use the EHR to its fullest and not make mistakes by manually entering the data.
Our facility uses LIS to get lab results. The doctor places the order, the lab receives the order and draws the blood, and when the tests have been ran, they stream into the patient's EHR. I believe this saves time as the doctors are waiting for lab results to come back to help diagnosis patients. Not only does it save time, but saves from human error.
References
Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. 2013. An introduction to: Medicaid EHR incentive program for eligible professionals. Retrieved from http://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-Guidance/Legislation/EHRIncentivePrograms/Downloads/EHR_Medicaid_BegGuide_Stage1.pdf
McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K.G. (2012). Nursing informatics and the foundation of knowledge (2nd ed.). Burlington, MA: Jones and Bartlett Learning.
Murphy, J. (2010). Nursing Informatics. The Journey to Meaningful Use of Electronic Health Records. Nursing Economic$, 28(4), 283-286.
Trepagnier, T. (2013). What POLs need to know: meeting "meaningful use" criteria for EHR incentives. MLO: Medical Laboratory Observer, 45(12), 24.
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