How electronic health records transform healthcare delivery and privacy

Electronic Health Records

The state of today's technology has transformed many of the methods and systems society uses to live and interact with one another. In the medical community, technology has also become a much larger part of how healing and the healing processes are carried out by health care professionals on a day-to-day basis. The purpose of this essay is to discuss how one piece of technology as represented by Electronic Health Records, has changed and modified the delivery of health care. To help understand this argument, this subject will be approached from the aspect of society's beliefs and values and how this affected this evolution of practical medicine.

Growth Of Technology

The ability to compress data in small, electronic packages has changed the world in many ways. Electronic health records (HER) have manifested in the medical community because of this technology that allows the compression of data into simply transferable packages that can be rapidly stored, altered and communicated in relatively short times across the globe. To understand how these changes have taken place, it is necessary to understand how EHRs provide assistance to medical professionals.

EHRs are intended to reduce administrative time resources that require the need to retrieve and examine medical information contained in these records. Computerized systems in general are useful when trained and knowledgeable people can manipulate these systems to their fullest advantage. This time saving effort can help conserve resources, reduce mistakes and create more avenues of access for treatment by non-local professionals with relative ease.

Menachemi & Collum (2011) remarked on the evolution of this effort in their research as they documented the pros and cons of electronic health record systems. They premised their research on the idea that The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009 encouraged the professional utilization of EHRs allowing for the analysis of their usage. The article eventually concluded that there were both significant pros and cons to this policy and that EHRs when applied in the proper methods can have significant benefits to a health care facility or system. They wrote "Nationwide implementation of EHRs is a necessary, although not sufficient, part in transforming the U.S. health care system for the better. EHR adoption must be considered one of many approaches that diversify our focus on quality improvement and cost reduction. The current major legislative and political support for EHRs represents the greatest investment in health information technologies in U.S. history. Over time, providers and researchers will be eager to quantify the returns that are expected from these investments."

Society's Influence

The values of today's society reflect a dependence on material and little importance is placed in faith, spirituality or reliance on one's neighbor for help. The need for the highly trained professional to manage our specific problems has resonated in today's society as the compartmentalization and micromanaging of ideas has placed emphasis on today's citizen that technology is needed to help facilitate any transformation or positive growth. These values are reflected in the medical community as the dependence on technology is well represented in this area as seen in the growth of EHRs in recent years.

The medical system is also built on consent. A patient does not have to receive treatment or see a doctor if they do not want. Understanding that this is a voluntary effort, should allow health care professionals using EHRs and other technological advances to disregard the privacy issue as not as important as the benefits that this technology allows. Health care is essentially an individual's responsibility, and the use of technology or medical professionals who use technology in their preferred way should maintain this position despite societies values that will no doubt impact more changes and transformations as they evolve further in the future.