Health Information Improving Healthcare with Personal Health Records (PHRs)

With the inception of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act in 2012, the United States began undertaking the most dramatic reconfiguration of its healthcare system since Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal. As part of an innovative strategy for improving the healthcare system's efficiency, for producing better health outcomes and for reducing wasteful spending, the Affordable Care Act has made as one of its foci the continued integration of Health Information Technology into everyday care strategies. Due substantially to technology-related initiatives subordinate to the Affordable Care Act, it is incumbent upon Health Information Systems Managers to remain abreast of and compliant with evolving laws.

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Over the next several years, hospitals and other healthcare provider facilities will be required to meet standards for the reduction of 30-day readmissions for recently hospitalized patients. This is considered a leading indicator of healthcare quality in any given facility. Therefore, Medicare is now attaching readmission rates to reimbursement penalties, withholding a certain percentage of this compensation from hospitals for non-compliance.
This speaks to the role of the HIS Manager, who will work to ensure that his or her employing health facility does remain compliant. The Affordable Care Act identifies improvements in such areas as the recording, storage, maintenance and sharing of Patient Health Records. According to the CMS (2012), Personal Health Records can benefit the patient's health and improve care decisions in a number of ways. The CMS indicates…