The Electronic Health Records, Essay Example

Utilization of the EMR Data and How its Implementation Affects Reimbursements

The Electronic Medical Record (EMR) is an electronic system used to access the history of a patient’s care within a single practice in real time (Goodman, 2009). This is one of the best advancements in medicine and medical services provision.

The EMR data is utilized in a number of various many ways for the benefit of all the people involved, both physicians and patients. To begin with, EMR can be accessed online to the advantage of the physician and general convenience in terms of time. In addition, it involves the use of data-driven reports and analytics. Patient records are stored electronically in the system, which facilitates ease of access and convenient service provision to the patients.

In the same system, data-driven clinical research is a vital tool. The physicians can easily conduct research on various emerging trends and health-related issues. This feature is available in the EMR databases and also through internet access. Similarly, the EMR also enables referral information to be communicated through an automatic letter generation. The EMR is at the same time very instrumental in the administration of diagnosis go patients.

Implementation of the EMR has far reaching effects on reimbursements. Upon implementation, the EMR being electronic eliminates the billing errors that were likely to be witnessed under the manual registers and records. This enhances high accuracy levels in health care service provision and reduces the general costs of transactions. Overestimation and underestimation errors become foregone cases due to accurate records used in the system.

In summary, the EMR is a vital tool in the health sector and should be installed in any given health service-providing facility.

References

Ash J.S. (2007). The extent and unintended consequences related to computerized provider order entry: A Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association. New York. JAMIA Press

Dick R.S & Steen E.B, Detmer D.E. (1997). The Computer-based patient record: an essential technology for health care. Rev. Washington D.C: National Academy Press.

Goodman L.J (2009). EMR Implementation Guide: The link to a better future. Texas. The Physicians Foundation. Retrieved January 2009 from: http//:www.physiciansfoundation.org

Weed L.L. (1968) Medical Records that Guide and teach. New England journal of medicine.