Implementing My Health Record System

The assignment details the implementation of My Health Record System, an electronic health record system proposed by the Common Wealth Government of Australia to drive efficiencies in the existing healthcare system. The document evaluates the problems, capabilities, and benefits of the system, recommending its implementation without further delay.

Running head: SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN
System Analysis and Design
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN
Table of Contents
Introduction..........................................................................................................................2
1. Problems..........................................................................................................................2
2. Capabilities......................................................................................................................3
3. Benefits............................................................................................................................4
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................5
References............................................................................................................................6

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SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN
Introduction
“My Health Record” System is a secure online summary of an individual’s health
information. The Common Wealth Government of Australia is launching this health record
system, which will be available to all Australians. This project is undertaken by Common Wealth
Australia in order to drive efficiencies in the existing health care system. Manual record keeping
of the health information of the patient is very difficult particularly for the physicians as the data
is not available to them in time of need. Doctors and patient are having several issues apparently
from the lack of information that is shared about the patients. This problem is essential to be
mitigated in order to reduce the cases of hospital admission. As an alternative to the manual
record keeping system, My Health Record system is proposed that will provide a secure online
summary of the health information of the patients who will register with the system (Wager et
al., 2017). This project is in its initial phase and therefore, a vision document is prepared to
identify the problems, capabilities and the benefits of this system.
1. Problems
My Health Record system will provide an electronic summary of the key health
information of the patients so that the doctors can easily access those records to suggest proper
medication for the system (DesRoches et al., 2013). This project has been undertaken as a
solution to certain problems. The problems associated with the existing system, due to which the
new system is being proposed are as follows-
1. Although manual record keeping of the health information of the patient is less expensive to
set up in comparison with the electronic system, there is always a risk of data inconsistency and
duplication of the data.

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SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN
2. Manual data storage in the hospitals takes up a lot of physical space. This is another major
problem associated with the manual document filling of the records and health information of the
patients.
3. The manual data keeping of the patients records not only makes it difficult for the doctors to
access the crucial information of the patients, it is very much prone to damage while crying or
getting misplace. Online health record system on the other hand provides a concrete storage
option for the patients’ health record.
4. The access time of manual records is considerably more in comparison to the electronic health
summary system and therefore, it becomes very difficult for the doctors to access the health
records of patient especially in collecting the medication information of a particular patient that
he had undergone some years back.
5. The manual storage of the health and personal information of the patients in the hospitals lacks
the much needed security. The new electronic health record system will provide a secure option
for the patients to store and control the records in a much secure way.
6. It is very difficult to back up the important data with the manual data keeping system and in
turn it is difficult to back up the data during a disaster.
Therefore, it is recommended to set a secure electronic record keeping system that can be
implemented for storing and providing the summary of the health records of the patient. The
capabilities and benefits of this electronic health record system is discussed in the following
section-
2. Capabilities

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SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN
There are certain advantages of implementing an electronic health record system. The
capabilities of “My Health Record” System are as follows (Tom et al., 2012)-
1. The online storage of the health records provides an efficient way to record and store
the health information of the patients that will be easily accessible to the patients and the doctors
(Koh etb al., 2013).
2. With the storage of all the medical history of a patient, it is easy to generate a summary
of the health information so that the doctors can easily asses the health condition of a patient as
he gets a clear idea of all the medical treatment the patient has undergone in the past.
3. The Electronic record keeping system that is to be developed will be controlled by the
patient. This means that the patient can control who can view their medical records (Pearce &
Bainbridge, 2014). This maintains the confidentially of the patients’ health information.
4. The process of data backup becomes easier with the electronic record keeping system
and therefore, the system is capable of retrieving the data during a disaster.
Therefore, the system is quite capable of providing the much needed reform in the
healthcare services provided to the patients thereby reducing the number of hospital admissions.
3. Benefits
The major benefits of implementing “My health Record System” are as follows
(Thilakanathan et al., 2014)-
1. The new system will be able to eliminate the need of bulky paper work in record
keeping.

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SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN
2. The system is capable of eliminating the errors associated with the manual record
keeping of the health information of patients. These errors include errors in data entry and data
inconsistency.
3. My Health Record system will provide a summary of the health information of the
patients, thus it will be easier for the doctors to understand the health problems of the patient in a
more effective way (Silow-Carroll, Edwards & Rodin, 2012).
4. With this digital system, the patients can remain connected with the doctors in times of
need and thus it will reduce the cases of hospital admission.
5. The digital system will bring the much needed reform in the process of providing
medication to the patients (Mello et al., 2013).
Conclusion
Therefore, it is recommended for Common Wealth Government of Australia to
implement this system without any further delay. The system will be beneficial for both the
patient and the physician. The vision document for the project evaluates the problems,
capabilities and benefits of the health record system. The system is capable of bringing a reform
in the treatment procedure the patients have been receiving for years. Since the project is in its
initial stages and the funding for the system has already been sought, it is recommended to
implement the system as soon as possible.

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SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN
References
DesRoches, C. M., Charles, D., Furukawa, M. F., Joshi, M. S., Kralovec, P., Mostashari, F., ... &
Jha, A. K. (2013). Adoption of electronic health records grows rapidly, but fewer than
half of US hospitals had at least a basic system in 2012. Health Affairs, 32(8), 1478-1485.
Koh, H. K., Brach, C., Harris, L. M., & Parchman, M. L. (2013). A proposed ‘health literate care
model’would constitute a systems approach to improving patients’ engagement in
care. Health Affairs, 32(2), 357-367.
Mello, M. M., Francer, J. K., Wilenzick, M., Teden, P., Bierer, B. E., & Barnes, M. (2013).
Preparing for responsible sharing of clinical trial data.
Pearce, C., & Bainbridge, M. (2014). A personally controlled electronic health record for
Australia. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 21(4), 707-713.
Silow-Carroll, S., Edwards, J. N., & Rodin, D. (2012). Using electronic health records to
improve quality and efficiency: the experiences of leading hospitals. Issue Brief
(Commonw Fund), 17(1), 40.
Thilakanathan, D., Chen, S., Nepal, S., Calvo, R., & Alem, L. (2014). A platform for secure
monitoring and sharing of generic health data in the Cloud. Future Generation Computer
Systems, 35, 102-113.
Tom, J. O., Mangione-Smith, R., Solomon, C., & Grossman, D. C. (2012). Integrated personal
health record use: association with parent-reported care experiences. Pediatrics, 130(1),
e183-e190.

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SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND DESIGN
Wager, K. A., Lee, F. W., & Glaser, J. P. (2017). Health care information systems: a practical
approach for health care management. John Wiley & Sons.