Its Primary purpose is to ensure quality patient care and managing the cost of that care. Its secondary purpose as defined by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) deals with individual users for education, regulations, policies and public health from data entered, verified, corrected or analyzed directly or indirectly. Homeland Security has recently been added to the list of users, including patient care providers, managers and staff, coders and patients themselves. Patients can make changes as necessary. Other users might include lawyers, employers, law enforcement and researchers.
The records contain information that is used for different purposes: 1) Administrative tasks: Registering patients Scheduling appointments 2) Clinical practices (diagnostic & therapeutic decisions): Computerized prescriptions Lab tests Diagnostic measures Progress notes from different healthcare providers 3) Research practices QUALITY BENEFITS OF AN EMR Assessing data from paper medical records is time-consuming because it involves reviewing information manually — record by record. By contrast, an EMR makes data easily accessible and enables physicians to use their own data to improve quality of care. With efficient electronic access to clinical data, practices can systematically improve the quality of care in a number of areas: • Enhanced patient education materials Practices can customize information packets and Web site referrals for patients so that patients receive essential information about their health at the point of care and guidance from reputable, scientific sources. • Quicker turnaround times for results of lab tests and imaging studies Connectivity between practices and the clinical laboratories and imaging centers shorten the time necessary for diagnostic information to reach the practice and the patient. Physicians can initiate therapy
By providing an efficient intake process, a certain flow can be maintained to move the process along smoothly and more organized. If any of the processes are not organized there will be a lot of confusion and unhappy patients. Patient satisfaction should be a step that is included in any health care facility. The patient intake process usually began when a patient calls to schedule an appointment. This is usually where the patients personal information is obtain such as their name, phone number, date of birth, address, reason for the appointment, name of health care coverage and referring physicians if there is any.
Risk management is the process of identifying, assessing, and prioritizing, risks of all kinds (whatisriskmangement.net, 2011). So what role does risk management play in healthcare? Any event that may cause an adverse effect on the healthcare facilities ability to perform is considered to be a risk. Risk management in healthcare may be the key for many organizations to reduce costs, improve surveys, reduce negative events, and have a lower professional liability cost. The Joint Commission (2012) defines risk management in healthcare as “the clinical and administrative acts undertaken to identify and evaluate the risk of injury to staff, patients and visitors and the risk to loss of the organization itself”.
The EHR is a computerized electronic record of patient health information generated by one or more encounters in any care delivery setting. Included in this information are patient demographics, progress notes, problems, medications, vital signs, past medical history, immunizations, laboratory data and radiology reports. The EHR automates the clinician's workflow and has the ability to generate a complete record of a patient encounter - as well as supporting other care-related activities directly or indirectly, including evidence-based decision support, quality management, and outcome reporting. In this paper I will discuss the many benefits and drawbacks of EHR’s, the types of software used and their functions as well as my thoughts on the future of Electronic Health Records. Many healthcare organizations have switched over to electronic health records since President George W. Bush called for health records to be stored electronically by 2014, and President Obama’s administration plans to continue pushing for that deadline.
EHRs are designed to reach out beyond the health organization that originally collects and compiles the information. They are built to share information with other health care providers, such as laboratories and specialists, so they contain information from all the clinicians involved in the patient’s care. EHR data “can be created, managed, and consulted by authorized clinicians and staff across more than one healthcare organization.” The information moves with the patient—to the specialist, the hospital, the nursing home, the next state or even across the country. In comparing the differences between record types, “The EHR represents the ability to easily share medical information among stakeholders and to have a patient’s information follow him or her through the various modalities of care engaged by that individual.” EHRs are designed to be
Page 3 Quality patient care can be advanced throughout the hospital by providing nurses with data such as the number of incidence of pressure ulcers and ways to prevent this from occurring, by providing education on restraints and when and when not to use them and how to use them correctly. Examining data outcomes can improve the quality of care by exploring the improvements that have been made through implemented changes. All in all, good patient care is common sense. Listen to the patient when they talk, they will tell you everything that they know, it is up to you to fill in the blanks. Look on the internet after your admit and research a person’s culture, it can prevent problems and embarrassment later as well as keeping the patient comfortable and safe.
* What are the consequences when office procedures do not support the financial policy? * What recommendations, strategies or tools can medical offices use to ensure effective alignment of policies and procedures? The basic elements of an effective medical office financial policy are; clear explanation of the policy, the policy addresses all possible scenarios, discusses financial arrangements, payment plans, payments not covered by insurance and what forms of payment are accepted and patient education when it comes to their statement. Collection of a patient’s copayment, deductibles and any past-due balances should be discussed. An effective policy should address how a practice handles prepayment for services they will provide and also any possibility for payment arrangements of unpaid balances on a patient’s account.
LEVEL 2 CERTIFICATE IN BUSINESS AND ADMINISTRATION BACKGROUND QUESTIONS UNIT 219 – STORE AND RETRIEVE INFORMATION 1.1 Explain the purpose of storing and retrieving required information. The purpose of storing and retrieving required information for my organisation is to enable all health and admin workers to be able to deal with patients/customers effectively. For example patient information systems have the ability to track individual health problems and treatment over time, giving insight into optimal diagnosis and treatment of the individual as well as improving the delivery of services. 1.2 Describe different information systems and their main features. Information systems in the hospital which I use include: IPM (I Patient Manager) features include: In/out patient management Registrations Ward management Admissions/discharges Patient record enquiry Booking of appointments PPM (Patient Pathway Manager) features include: Record Cancer patients diagnosis and treatment Track/transfer patients to other trusts Microsoft Outlook features include: Sending and receiving emails Booking of meetings and appointments Hospital contacts Task list 1.3 Explain the purpose of legal and organisational requirements for the security and confidentiality of information.
Effective communication means a message is sent to a receiver without any distortions in its meaning. This applies not only to personal communication among friends but to a business where you have to communicate with a coworker individually or in a team meeting. Electronic medical records are a computerized record used by a hospital or physician’s office that allows modification, storage, and retrieval of medical records. These records are digitally formatted and share valuable information across different health care settings. Electronic Medical records contain a range of data including, billing information, demographics, age and weight, medical histories, vital signs, medication, allergies, immunization, radiology images, and lab results.