Current Trends in the Use of Electronic Healthcare Records

¶ … 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, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009 authorized the payment of incentives to encourage physicians in private practice to implement EHR systems, and the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs likewise provide financial incentives for healthcare providers to increase their use of EHRs (Hsiao & Hing, 2014).

While every healthcare setting differs in some ways, the use of EHRs has been shown to provide a number of desirable outcomes that can benefit healthcare providers and consumers alike, including the following: Reducing the number of medical errors by improving the accuracy and clarity of healthcare records; Facilitating clinician access to healthcare information; Eliminating duplication of tests; Minimizing delays in treatment; and, Improving patient autonomy by providing them with the information they need to make more informed decisions concerning their healthcare treatment and alternatives (Albert, 2013, p. 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 (78%) of office-based physicians used some type of electronic health record (EHR) system, an increase from 18% in 2001; In 2013, the percentage of physicians with basic EHR systems by state varied from a low of 21% in New Jersey to a high of 83% in North Dakota (the percentage of physicians who had a system meeting the criteria for a basic system was lower than the national average [48%] in eight states [Connecticut, Maryland, Nevada, New Jersey, Oklahoma, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming] and higher than the national average in nine states [Iowa, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin]); During the period from 2010 to 2013, physician adoption of EHRs increased significantly.

These recent trends are depicted graphically in Figure 1 below. Figure 1. Percentage of office-based physicians with EHR system in the United States: 2001-2013 Source: Based online graph in Hsiao & Hing, 2014 Although EHRs eliminate much of the traditional paperwork required for healthcare management, they are not labor free.

In fact, at present, clinicians spent about 1 to 2 hours a day viewing information on EHRs and between 2 and 4 hours documenting EHR information (nurses spend about twice as much time as physicians in this task), but these levels are expected to decrease as clinicians gain experience and further.