Suzi Birz, principal, HiQ Analytics, LLC
Recent events have brought much attention to electronic health records (EHRs) and their impact on the health care system. President Obama has called for “EHRs for Americans by 2014,” and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 includes incentives for providers demonstrating “meaningful use” of EHRs. Researchers in Texas recently published the results of a study to examine the impact on clinical and financial outcomes of clinical information technologies. Ruben Amarasingham, MD, MBA, says that nurses are central to the design of any technology implementation used in health care workflow. “We examined the association between a hospital’s automation and inpatient mortality, complications, costs, and length of stay among patients with four medical conditions in a diverse group of Texas hospitals,” stated Ruben Amarasingham, MD, MBA at Parkland Health and Hospital System in Dallas, Texas. The research associated a 15 percent decrease in fatal hospitalizations with each 10-point increase of notes and records as measured with their assessment tool, indicating that greater automation is associated with reduced rates of inpatient mortality. With respect to cost, higher scores on use of the technology for test results, order entry and decision support were overwhelmingly associated with lower costs. Also, increased use was associated with the reduction in the odds of death for myocardial infarction and coronary artery bypass graft surgery.
Full Article: http://www.nursezone.com/Nursing-News-Events/devices-and-technology.aspx?ID=18841&Tab=1
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It makes sense to me that a person’s medical record should be accessible to them on the web, provided it is done by a secure server. The ability for other doctor’s to access this information, with the approval of the patient, could reveal vital information. For example, in the case of the elderly, who may have forgotten about a medication they are taking or a test they may have undergone. As an aside, I have always been disturbed when a doctors office charged me for a copy of my own file, with the amount of money they are paid this should be a free service. If accessible on the web this would eliminate that problem.
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