¶ … Information Technology Trends: Electronic Healthcare Records
Today, consumers in the United States enjoy a modern healthcare system that has benefited from numerous innovations in medical technology, including the introduction of electronic healthcare records in recent years. Electronic healthcare records facilitate timely access to critical patient information and provide a highly cost effective approach to healthcare management. To determine the facts, this paper reviews the literature to identify how this emerging innovative technology is impacting the healthcare industry in general and how its application can create value for healthcare providers in particular. Finally, a summary of the research and important findings concerning electronic healthcare records and their implications for the healthcare industry are presented in the conclusion.
Review and Analysis
According to the definition provided by Albert (2013), electronic healthcare records (EHR) are digitized versions of a patient's medical history that are "maintained by the provider over time, and may include all key administrative clinical data relevant to that care, including demographics, progress notes, problems, medications, vital signs, past medical history, immunizations, laboratory data and radiology reports" (p. 395). The uptake of EHRs by healthcare providers has been promoted by various laws enacted in recent years that provide incentives for clinicians. For instance,...
396).
Given these valuable outcomes, it is not surprising that growing number of healthcare providers of all types and sizes are implementing EHR systems of their own. For instance, according to a study by Hsiao and Hing (2014), the following key trends have been identified concerning the deployment of EHR systems by healthcare providers in the United States in recent years:
By 2013, more than three-quarters…
