Analysis of My Health Record System

The assignment provides a detailed analysis of the My Health Record System, which is an online platform for storing and managing health information. It discusses the problems associated with traditional paper-based methods and the benefits of using electronic health records. The document also explores the capabilities and limitations of electronic health record systems, including issues related to security, confidentiality, and interoperability.

Running head: ANALYSIS OF MY HEALTH RECORD SYSTEM
Analysis of My Health Record
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s note:

1ANALYSIS OF MY HEALTH RECORD SYSTEM
1. Introduction
The ‘My Health Record’ is a secure online summary of the health information of an individual.
An individual is able to control their personal records. The health information could be shared
with doctors to gain proper information related to their health and get the appropriate medical
facilities. The online portal is able to store existing records and is designed in such a way that the
records could be integrated into the existing systems of local clinics (Charles, Gabriel &
Furukawa, 2013).
2. Discussion
2.1 Problems with the Health Record Systems
In the modern age of technological advancements, most of the medical counters still use
the paper based methods of recording information. Although the electronic method of health
information record has several benefits, but the use of such online methods is still meagre. The
electronic medical record (EMR) could be extremely helpful in saving time and cost of the
patient in the time of critical situations.
There are several problems that are identified with the EMR, which may include
increased time of provider, lack of standards, threats to confidentiality and down time of
computers. The concern related to EMR systems is having computer down time. In this scenario,
the threat of accessing to the right piece of information at the real time is true. Yet the increasing
reliability on computer systems and networks is able to resolve the problem (Bowman, 2013).
Another significant problem which arises with EMR systems is the lack of proper
systems in order to interchange information. Although a number of system standards exist for the
transmission of pure data, there is still no agreement in areas of patient signs and symbols.

2ANALYSIS OF MY HEALTH RECORD SYSTEM
Security and confidentiality of the data of the patient is also an important area of concern
for the EMR systems. Well-known experts of privacy have listed the threats that may misuse the
information of the patients (Demirkan, 2013).
2.2 Capabilities of My Health Record System
The My Health Record is able to record the health information of an individual on an
online platform. The primary goal of this system is to serve as an origin of the observations of
the clinician and a thorough analysis of the patient. The previous records of the patients would be
stored online and based on those reports the doctors would be able to suggest better healthcare
facilities to the patients.
The health information of a patient is being currently distributed across different
locations that may include hospitals, general practices, imaging centers and health specialists.
With the introduction of the My Health Record system, different healthcare organizations would
have much more benefits such as faster and easy access to more information related to healthcare
(Appari, Eric Johnson & Anthony, 2013).
The health record system contains health summary of an individual, event summary,
discharge summary, records of medication and letter from the specialist doctor. The records in
the healthcare system could be viewed individually. They could also enter information, which
would help the doctors to keep track of the health of the individual.
2.3 Benefits of My Health Record System
It should be taken into consideration about how patients would get benefited from digital
health technology. Any visit to a healthcare specialist, hospital or a medical facility would result
in the creation of some important information related to the health of an individual. The My

3ANALYSIS OF MY HEALTH RECORD SYSTEM
Health Record System would provide access to the summary of the health information, the
ability to keep a track of their immunizations, allergies and medications, and the ability to share
their personal health information with every healthcare providers who would be involved with
their health (King et al., 2014).
Another important benefit of the health record system is the Electronic Transfer of
Prescriptions (ETP). With the help of My Health Record System, an individual would be able to
download and contribute updated information about their health to the providers of healthcare.
They could also share better information of the related diseases which have affected the patients
and prescribe better medication. The system would also increase efficiencies that might help to
reduce the number of unnecessary repeated tests which might reduce the costs of medical
services that are implied on the patients (Woods et al., 2013).
3. Conclusion
Based on the above discussion, it could be concluded that the My Health Record System
could provide much more benefits to the individual in terms of better healthcare facilities as
compared to the existing system of healthcare that are mainly manual based. Such mechanisms
should be implemented in order to ensure that the information of the patient would not be viewed
by inappropriate users. Altogether this new healthcare system would be beneficial in the future
of healthcare and for the people.

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4. References
Appari, A., Eric Johnson, M., & Anthony, D. L. (2013). Meaningful use of electronic health
record systems and process quality of care: evidence from a panel data analysis of US
acute‐care hospitals. Health services research, 48(2pt1), 354-375.
Bowman, S. (2013). Impact of electronic health record systems on information integrity: quality
and safety implications. Perspectives in Health Information Management, 10(Fall).
Charles, D., Gabriel, M., & Furukawa, M. F. (2013). Adoption of electronic health record
systems among US non-federal acute care hospitals: 2008-2012. ONC data brief, 9, 1-9.
Demirkan, H. (2013). A smart healthcare systems framework. It Professional, 15(5), 38-45.
King, J., Patel, V., Jamoom, E. W., & Furukawa, M. F. (2014). Clinical benefits of electronic
health record use: national findings. Health services research, 49(1pt2), 392-404.
Woods, S. S., Schwartz, E., Tuepker, A., Press, N. A., Nazi, K. M., Turvey, C. L., & Nichol, W.
P. (2013). Patient experiences with full electronic access to health records and clinical
notes through the My HealtheVet Personal Health Record Pilot: qualitative
study. Journal of medical Internet research, 15(3).