Electronic Health Record Implementation

This assignment delves into the multifaceted aspects of Electronic Health Record (EHR) implementation within healthcare settings. It explores the benefits of EHR adoption, including improved information integrity and patient engagement. The assignment further examines the steps involved in EHR implementation, from assessing practice readiness to optimizing system functionality. Key topics include understanding the challenges of EHR adoption, managing patient portals for enhanced patient engagement, and ensuring successful EHR integration within existing healthcare workflows.

Health Advancement and Promotion
Electronic health record implementation, adoption, optimization and migration path
The acquisition of the electronic health record (EHR) in the clinical settings promises
to enhance the medical care across multiple dimensions. For example, it will improve the
quality of healthcare while concomitantly decreasing the healthcare cost in the clinical
settings (Bowman, 2013). EHR implementation involves the systematic transformation of the
physical (paper-based) health record into the electronic health record. EHR implementation is
mandated with the objective of accomplishing healthcare needs of the patient population and
improving the efficiency of health care revenue cycle with the utilization of information
technology. The implementation is also required to enhance the feasibility and quality of
medical interventions for the population of all groups and geographical locations (HIT,
2017). EHR implementation is also needed to effectively optimize healthcare administrative
processes and maximining clinical workflow and data collection processes with the minimum
utilization of manpower. EHR adoption indicates the requirement of effectively integrating
the electronic health record in medical facilities while following the stipulations of the
HITECH (Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health) Act
(Menachemi & Collum, 2011). The medical facilities require evaluating the change resisters,
available technical support and concerns and cost implications while stepping ahead to
acquire and adopt the electronic health record across the healthcare mainstream (Kruse,
Kristof, Jones, Mitchell, & Martinez, 2016). EHR optimization indicates the requirement of
effectively customizing the electronic health record in accordance with the individualized
requirements of any clinical practice. The optimized EHR systematically assists in the
enhancement of the capacity and productivity of the healthcare units. EHR migration path
includes the systematic steps that require execution to effectively facilitate the transformation

of paper record to the electronic health record. The configuration of the EHR migration path
would require the step-by-step development of the following attributes.
1. Medical management system
2. Evaluation and management charting
3. Physician’s order interface
4. Medical decision-making tool
5. Physician-patient interaction interface
6. Protected health record
7. Report generation tools
Electronic Health Record Structure
Electronic health record comprises of the patient management system, clinical
elements, radiology/lab attributes and information management system and billing/coding
system. The patient management system includes the processes like patient admission,
transfer, demographic entry as well as insurance coverage. The clinical elements include the
patient evaluation and management recording tools for effectively maintaining the accuracy
of the significant patient assessment information. Radiology and lab attributes include the
laboratory equipment, computer hardware, MRI/CT modality, patient information transfer
network, image reviewing workstations and images/reports storage archives (Arora & Mehta,
2014). The coding/billing system includes the software tools and processes like practice
management software and encoder-pro tool for systematically transforming the clinical
information to the reimbursement codes.
Workflow Analysis (Department of Internal Medicine)
Workflow redesigning would require checking the entire steps beginning from the
patient entry until discharge in the medical facility. The following attributes would require

configuration/reassessment while undertaking the process of workflow redesign for the
department of internal medicine.
1. The appointment configuration process
2. Front desk configuration
3. Patient documents scanning process
4. Patient’s charting and review process
5. Co-pay management process
6. Evaluation and management systems and tools
7. Patient care logs configuration process
8. Medical coding/billing tools development process
9. Practice management software development process
10. Patient discharge process/protocol
Patient Portals’ Benefits
Patient portals are configured by the effective integration of patients’ institutional
electronic health records with the electronic personal health records (Irizarry, Dabbs, &
Curran, 2015). They facilitate patient engagement for effectively mitigating cost/quality crisis
pattern in the health care system. The patient portals encourage the deployment of customized
patient-centric approaches with the objective of enhancing the wellness outcomes of the
treated patients. They also facilitate the systematic undertaking of informed decisions while
inducing positive health behaviour in the patients as well as their family members.
Patient Portals’ Popularity and Management
Patient portals provide direct patients' access to the customized health information.
Eventually, patients remain aware about their health status and regarding any change
requirement in their medical management, including treatment and decision-making (Irizarry,
Dabbs, & Curran, 2015). The patient portals also prove to be an effective interface for the

patients to gain authenticated access into their protected health records at any point in time.
Health Informatics professionals require undertaking usability testing of the patient portals
for redefining their operational mechanisms in accordance with the emerging healthcare
requirements (Irizarry, Dabbs, & Curran, 2015). They also require facilitating the
personalization of the patient portals by training the eligible patients for their systematic
utilization in the context of attaining the healthcare advantage.

References
Arora, D., & Mehta, Y. (2014). Use of picture archiving and communication system for
imaging of radiological films in cardiac surgical intensive care unit. JACP, 447-448.
doi:10.4103/0970-9185.137306
Bowman, S. (2013). Impact of Electronic Health Record Systems on Information Integrity:
Quality and Safety Implications. Perspectives in Health Information Management.
Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3797550/
HIT. (2017). How to Implement EHRs. Retrieved 08 12, 2017, from
https://www.healthit.gov/providers-professionals/ehr-implementation-steps/step-1-
assess-your-practice-readiness
Irizarry, T., Dabbs, A. D., & Curran, C. R. (2015). Patient Portals and Patient Engagement: A
State of the Science Review. JMIR, 17(6). doi:10.2196/jmir.4255
Kruse, C. S., Kristof, C., Jones, B., Mitchell, E., & Martinez, A. (2016). Barriers to
Electronic Health Record Adoption: a Systematic Literature Review. Journal of
Medical Systems, 40(12). doi:10.1007/s10916-016-0628-9
Menachemi, N., & Collum, T. H. (2011). Benefits and drawbacks of electronic health record
systems. Risk Management and Healthcare Policy, 47-55.
doi:10.2147/RMHP.S12985