Patient Records New York City

Patient Records

New York City Health Department Helps Doctors Adopt Electronic Health Records. June 30, 2009 by Emily Montandon, Associate Editor

Link: http://www.govtech.com/health/New-York-City-Health-Department-Helps.html

(the key issues or developments the author address).

Electronic health records (EHRs) have obvious long-term beneficial potential for both medical outcomes as well as the reduction in health care costs. However, implementing EHR systems is expensive and that has been the principal barrier to their widespread adoption, particularly among private healthcare providers. Currently, only two percent of American medical practices maintain EHRs because of the cost. One agency, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH) has created a program for assisting medical providers make the transition to HER systems. According to the DOHMH Assistant Commissioner, more than 1,000 small practices, community health centers, and hospital outpatient departments have participated in a DOHMH assistance program to help them implement EHR systems.

Author's Points

(What does the author has to say about the topic?)

The author seems convinced that the incorporation of EHR systems will be extremely beneficial to community health, patient outcome, and to the productivity and profitability of individual practitioners and medical practices if the system can get off the ground by overcoming its current barriers to wider implementation. The author provides several examples of the potential benefits that include reduction in medical errors, improved productivity and convenience for providers, and the use of EHR systems and data to promote public health concerns. More specifically, the author reports that physicians who have been using the system find it to be extremely useful for scheduling, remote access to patient information, and productivity. The author also explains that the data stored in the system can be used to help public health officials identify medical issues facing the community as well as track various trends from the community and public health perspectives.

Article Relevance

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