The Electronic Medical Record and Its Impact on the Healthcare Industry
Mary Taylor
October 20, 2009
CMP 105-02
The healthcare industry is notorious for mountains of paperwork. For each part of the
healthcare process, there is always a form or a series of forms to fill out. Often the process of
filling out these papers are time consuming and costly. Even if a healthcare worker fills out these
forms, they may not correspond with paperwork needed at other facilities causing more
paperwork. Like any other business, the healthcare industry needed to find more ways to save
money and time spent on the extensive paperwork. Thus the Electronic Medical Record is born.
According to Wikipidea.com, the Electronic Medical Record (EMR) is a “computerized
legal medical record created in an organization that delivers care” (“Electronic Medical
Record”). In essence, the EMR is, in most cases, a database containing information on any given
patient at any given time. This information includes a patients medical history, lab and x-ray
results, physician’s notes, nurses’ notes, medicine and treatment records, and financial and
demographical information. Compared to a paper chart, the EMR provides several added features
that can make working with an electronic chart more efficient. Depending on the software, these
features include a search option, data organization and graphing for the history of the patient. By
the year 2014, the government hopes to push healthcare facilities to “adopt electronic medical
records” (Gutierrez-Folch, 2009). As part of this push, the government added the healthcare
industry to the $838 billion dollar stimulus bill that was passed in February of 2009. However,
there is a catch. In order to receive the funding from this bill, the healthcare facilities must have
an EMR that allows them to share information with other healthcare facilities and be accessible
from any computer in the facility to healthcare workers (Gutierrez-Folch, 2009).
Many healthcare facilities have begun the process of adapting EMRs to their practice in
order to receive their share of the funding. Their feelings about the EMR vary from facility to
facility. Some healthcare workers believe that the EMR will help save time and money usually
spent on paperwork (Wagner, Lee, & White, 2001). Take a physician’s orders, for example. A
doctor in a hospital setting usually will write down his orders for a patient’s medicines,
treatments and other orders down on an order sheet. Upon signing the sheet, the nurse, or in
some cases a ward clerk, will take the order and rewrite it on the proper sheets like the medicine
record or treatment record sheet for the nurses to go by when they dispense their medication.
Sometimes in this case an order may be rewritten incorrectly or an order may fall through the
cracks causing a medical error. With the EMR, the process can be shortened and accuracy can
increase. In some EMR systems, the physician can enter their order into the EMR and the
software will process the order to the correct records automatically. This process cuts out the
need for nurses or ward clerks to rewrite the orders. The more efficiently nurses use the EMR,
the more time they have to dedicate to patient care rather than paperwork. Many healthcare
workers appreciate the cut back on time spent doing paperwork.
However, like with any new practice, the EMR also has its flaws. One major issue with
the EMR is the varying software being offered to the healthcare industry (Callan, & DeShazo,
2007). While the concept of an EMR is universal, many healthcare software companies provide
different types of software for use. For example, a private practice physician’s office might use
one type of EMR software, whereas a hospital needs a different type of software and may order it
from a different company. While most EMR software is the same in the type of information
recorded, the format of the software and its features differ depending on the software and the
company that created it (Callan, & DeShazo, 2007). In some cases, facilities may print from their
EMR and submit the paper copy to the other facility. While currently this practice is accepted
due to some facilities not even having a working EMR yet, the hope is that there will be a way to
electronically send information needed from one EMR to another soon.
Using an EMR is still relatively new in the healthcare industry, and thus causing another
major issue: correct implementation of the EMR. An article in the December 2007 issue of The
Physician Executive states, “A new electronic health record without adequate training is a recipe
for failure” (Callan, & DeShazo, 2007). This statement is most true to the implementation
process of an EMR. For centuries, the healthcare industry relied on handwritten charting for their
paperwork. Now with the implementation of this new method, many healthcare workers are
skeptical about how to chart electronically. From experience, some healthcare workers strongly
resist due to the lack of computer based skills and fear of the unknown (Wagner, Lee, & White,
2001). The lack of computer based skills and fear of electronics makes the implementation
process one of the most vital processes in working with an EMR. While the EMR may do exactly
what its program tells it to do, if the user is not using the EMR to its full potential, it will end up
useless. Most medical software companies battle this issue by offering facility specific
programming. The companies may shape their current software to meet the needs of the medical
facility. While this does not resolve the issue, it does allow the medical facilities to obtain user
friendly EMRs.
However, despite the previously noted concerns, the one issue that healthcare workers
seem most concerned about would be the privacy required by the Health Insurance Portability
and Privacy Act (HIPPA) (Wagner, Lee, & White, 2001). Overall, the issue comes down to
whether the EMR is secure enough for patient information. In the end, the security of the EMR
relies on several factors: its software, the computer system and the network of the facility
running it, and the users utilizing those systems. For example, an EMR’s software may be
secure, and the network the healthcare worker is working on may be secure, but if the monitor is
visible by the public, it is a violation of HIPPA. This issue ties into the implementation process
issue where the heath care worker or facility was not adequately trained to use the EMR
properly.
In the end, an EMR can significantly change the healthcare industry for good. As
previously stated, the EMR is still relatively new to the healthcare industry. With patience and
dedication, the EMR can provide the healthcare industry with a cost effective way to charting.
With hope, soon most of the healthcare industry will progress further into the 21st century with
technology on its side.
References
(n.d.). Electronic Medical Record. Wikipedia. Retrieved (2009, October 24) from
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electronic_Medical_Record
Gutierrez-Folch, A. (2009, October 01). Government pushes for electronic medical records by
2014. Finding Dulcinea, Retrieved from
http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/health/2009/October/Government-Pushes-for-
Electronic-Medical-Records-by-2014-.html
Callan, C., & DeShazo, C. (2007). How to navigate health care information technology and
electronic medical records.. The Physician Executive, 36-42.
Wager, Karen A., Frances Wickham Lee, and Andrea W. White. "Life after a disastrous
electronic medical record implementation: one clinic's experience.(Report)." Journal of
Cases on Information Technology 3 (Annual 2001): NA. Computer Database. Gale. Wor
Wic Community College. 24 Oct. 2009
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