subject: Emrs And Patient Portals Healthcare Digitized [print this page] The HITECH (Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health) Act revolutionized the healthcare industry as we know it today when it began its campaign on the promotion and usage of EMRs. Witnessing the discouraging situation of healthcare delivery and privacy the government was pressured into making reforms. Adding more fuel to the fire, the nation faced a hard brunt on the economy brought upon by the recession which led to the inevitable chants of EMR technology and interoperability of medical information. The Obama administrations answer was to counter the economic slump and enhance the healthcare sector in a single maneuver through healthcare reforms. By increasing medical efficiency through implementation of EMRs and job creation simultaneously, the 2009 administration killed two birds with one stone. Thus, the government set out to incentivize EMR adoption in a meaningful manner.
This set the MU (Meaningful Use) stage 1 into motion. For physicians to qualify for the financial incentives declared, it became mandatory for them to comply with the requisites outlined by MU stage 1. Granted that the government support played an integral role in the promotion and adoption of EMR software; however, providers also realized the inherent benefits that EMRs brought to their workflow management and practice performance. Introduction of features such as practice management and patient portals in particular was a game changer.
Moving on, lets shed some light upon the other side of the equation: the patients. Without a shadow of a doubt, the primary beneficiaries of quality healthcare are the patients. Patient engagement is an integral aspect of managing patients health better. This inevitably gave birth to the idea of patient portals. Patient portals facilitate patients and clinicians to stay in constant touch. By virtue of being web based, patient portals now allowed patients to communicate with their providers from anywhere at any time.
Furthermore, patient portals gave patients the luxury of no longer having to visit their physician every time they had a routine query. Through these portals patients can simply log on to their portal account to perform various tasks remotely. Some of these tasks include viewing lab results, instantaneously request refills and access their health records through generating queries. Apart from minimizing stress levels of patient and physician alike, patient portals eliminate redundant monetary and time costs it takes on phone calls and clinic visits. Therefore, its not unreasonable to conclude that patient portals play a vital role in patient health management. Hence, its exactly why MU stage 2 requisites have meticulously focused on patient engagement and patient portals.
Introduction of EMR into the healthcare industry completely shook up the playing field and comprehensively revolutionized the healthcare continuum. Conventional protracted techniques of practice were discarded by abbreviating the processes of accessing, storing and retrieving significant information. All these tasks could be accomplished with a simple click within the software rather than arduous manual labor. Through the miracle of EMR operations became genuinely streamlined; it literally takes seconds to carry out clinical operations instead of several minutes at a time without compromising on quality. Who wouldnt want that?
