MAN6935 IT Value Realization: EHR Business Case for Doctor's Practice

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the business case for investing in Electronic Health Records (EHR) within a doctor's practice, drawing upon a case study focused on Greenway Medical Technologies and supplemented with external research. The report begins with an executive summary and background information, exploring the challenges and opportunities in the medical marketplace and the role of EHR. It delves into the various functions enhanced by EHR, such as practice scheduling, prescribing, billing, information sharing, and service delivery, particularly in the Australian healthcare context. The analysis examines the national approach to EHR implementation, the business context, the impact of EHR policy, and economic considerations. The report includes a discussion of Clintel Clinical Solutions and its offerings, followed by key recommendations for management, including primary and secondary recommendations, and concludes with references. The report aims to provide clear, actionable advice to guide decisions regarding EHR adoption and investment.

Running head: IT VALUE REALIZATION
IT Value Realization
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Authors Note:

1
IT VALUE REALIZATION
Executive Summary:
Storing information of patients and population electronically in digital format in a systemized
and synchronised manner to use the same for medical purpose in the future is known as
electronic healthcare record (EHR). Also referred to as electronic medical record (EMR), it
contains information that are related to health of the patients and population. A detailed
discussion along with analysis of EHR in the modern world of health care and its business
implications have been narrated in this document. The objective of the document is to provide in-
depth discussion and analysis on the use of EHR and the merit behind investing in EHR by
looking at it from business perspective. The modern world is full of innovation and technology
and there is merely any sphere of life where technology has not made its impact for good or bad.
EHR is only an extension to the ever increasing use of technology in record keeping within the
healthcare industry.

2
IT VALUE REALIZATION
Contents
Executive Summary:........................................................................................................................1
Introduction:....................................................................................................................................4
Part 1:...............................................................................................................................................4
Data collection:............................................................................................................................4
Electronic healthcare record and doctors’ practices in Australia:...........................................4
Practice scheduling:.................................................................................................................5
Prescribing:..............................................................................................................................5
Billing:.....................................................................................................................................5
Information sourcing and sharing:...........................................................................................6
Service delivery:......................................................................................................................6
Management of care at remote places:....................................................................................6
Clinical decision support:........................................................................................................7
Maintaining e-health record:....................................................................................................7
Public health intelligence:........................................................................................................7
General practice functions in the country:...............................................................................7
Clintel Clinical Solutions:........................................................................................................8
Part 2:.............................................................................................................................................10
National approach:.....................................................................................................................10
The business context of EHR:...................................................................................................10

3
IT VALUE REALIZATION
Impact of EHR policy:...............................................................................................................11
Economic uncertainty involved with the implementation of EMR:..........................................11
Unified approach:......................................................................................................................11
Both option shall be available, i.e. opt in and opt out model:...................................................12
Issue of effectiveness and usability:..........................................................................................12
Optimum use of practice time of a doctor or health unit employee:.........................................12
Reduction in cost:......................................................................................................................12
Value additions to ERM system:...............................................................................................12
Recommendation:..........................................................................................................................17
References:....................................................................................................................................18

4
IT VALUE REALIZATION
Introduction:
In order to improve the quality of healthcare the importance of health records kept by health care
industry is very important. The data kept by the hospitals, clinics, nursing homes, doctors’
chambers and other health care units if properly maintained and recorded in a systemized manner
will provide huge amount of information to the healthcare industry to improve the quality of
healthcare immensely. The innovation and technological revolution that saw invention of EHR
has same objective. In this document a business case for investing in EHR within a doctor’s
practice shall be discussed annualized in necessary details to help the readers to make their mind
on whether the system is useful to the doctors’ practice and healthcare industry as a whole.
Part 1:
Data collection:
Electronic healthcare record and doctors’ practices in Australia:
Internet penetration and advanced communication through networking have exponentially
improved the record keeping system within healthcare industry. The e-health movement in the
country has been accepted in the country to improve the reporting system of health care industry.
Considering the huge potential of information and technology to improve the health care system
and its records keeping mechanism for future reference Australian healthcare society accepted
and welcomed the IT revolution within the healthcare system with open arms. It was always
expected to bring a paradigm shift in the old traditional health care system with use of advanced
and cutting edge technology along with networking connectivity. EHR is the newest admission
to the field of e-health in Australia is expected to reduce the errors in keeping health records
drastically, enhancing the quality of health care, reducing and minimizing the cost of health care,

5
IT VALUE REALIZATION
providing the consumers with proper information to empower them to understand their needs in
health care and accordingly take improved healthcare decisions to improve their health. The
healthcare industry and doctors’ practice have used e-health record by using the following steps.
Practice scheduling:
Scheduling the time and practice of doctors better has become possible with the help of EHR.
With the help of information and technology better scheduling of time and practice of the doctors
has become possible. E-health has made it possible to make effective scheduling for doctors in
the country and make best use of their times to ensure that the patients as well as doctors can be
benefitted from optimum use of time (Xu, Gao, Sorwar & Croll, 2013).
Prescribing:
E-health care record maintenance has made it possible to prescribe properly. Prescribing has
become easier and better with EHR as the systemized record keeping of health system has made
it possible to refer the past prescriptions to better prescribe medicines to the patients. The record
keeping in digital format has made it easier to verify the past records to check which prescription
has worked most effectively for a patient and accordingly doctors can prescribe medicines to the
new patients.
Billing:
The system of billing in health care units such as hospitals, doctors’ chambers and other health
care units have been fully computerized to improve the efficiency and effectiveness in the billing
system. The chances of errors in billing has reduced greatly with the introduction of
computerized billing system in the country.

6
IT VALUE REALIZATION
Information sourcing and sharing:
Information sourcing and sharing have become much easier and effective with the help of
information and technology. Earlier, i.e. before the introduction of IT and networking system in
health care industry, it was almost impossible to imagine sharing information from one health
care unit to another quickly and smoothly. However, subsequent to the introduction of EHR it
has become relatively easy and effective to share information and knowledge between different
units situated far from each other. As a result the overall cooperation between doctors have also
improved. The treatment in general has improved significantly with the help of sharing and
sourcing of information.
Service delivery:
Service delivery throughout the country has improved leaps and bounds subsequent to the
implementation of e-health practices. The doctors’ practices have also improved significantly as
the information have been shared on time resulting in quick services provided in all across
Australia.
Management of care at remote places:
It has also become possible to manage health care facilities at remote places in the country with
the help of proper information and knowledge flow with the help of network and innovative
technology. Earlier information of health care requirements from remote places were not
received at correct time due to lack of means to send messages and information from remote
places. However, with the introduction of e-health sending messages have become much easier
and quicker. Even from remote areas of the country the health care requirement messages are
shared quickly and smoothly. Health care units are deployed with equal efficiency to ensure
proper health care facilities are provided to the patients and population even in the remotest

7
IT VALUE REALIZATION
corners of the country (An Outlook on India's Healthcare System with a Medical Case Study and
Review on Big Data and its Importance in Healthcare, 2016).
Clinical decision support:
The clinical decision support system has become much more effective and efficient as the
doctors can now refer the past prescriptions without any difficult under EHR. The ability to get
past medical records of patients by just click of a mouse have made the clinical decision support
system better.
Maintaining e-health record:
All the records in relation to the patients and population in general in some case are stored in a
systemized manner in cloud computing. The effective maintenance of e-health record have
significantly improved the system of maintenance, monitoring and use of healthcare information.
Public health intelligence:
The improvement in public health intelligence in healthcare system in the country and
throughout the world has improved significantly due to the ability of information and
technological system to correctly record the information of patients and population in relation to
their medical history and treatment. These information are extremely helpful to the doctors and
government agencies as they would combine to improve public health in the country. Thus
public health intelligence has enhanced significantly throughout the country (Xu, Gao, Sorwar &
Croll, 2013).
General practice functions in the country:
The general practice in the country has always been quite high standards as compared to the rest
of the world. Australia has always been country known for setting standards in terms of health

8
IT VALUE REALIZATION
care related practices. General practice in the country has always been with one big objective and
it is to improve the quality of health of people in the country. The general practice prior to
adoption of e-health in the country had one main objective it is to ensure that the citizens in the
country get highest quality of health care services in healthcare units. In this modern day and age
when everything around are changing so fast and improving including information and
technology to make the lives of the people better, use of innovation and technology is must. The
genera practice in the country improved significantly subsequent to the implementation of e-
health including EHR. It is mainly due to the fact that information sourcing and sharing have
become significantly better. The medical practitioners have become equipped with IT and other
innovative technology to use the information recorded in the system to improve their knowledge
by continuously going through the records. Medical science is evolving continuously and it is
only justified to improve the existing record keeping and maintenance system in the health care
industry. Thus, the enhanced quality of general practice in the country is more than visible as
mentioned. However, it is important to state here that the entire improvement in general practice
is not fully due to the introduction of e-health (EHR) but rather an important part of overall
reasons for enhancing the quality of general practice in the country and around the globe
("Breaches of ABPI code of practice rise sharply, according to report", 2017).
Clintel Clinical Solutions:
Clintel Clinical Solutions is in operation for last 13 years now with the Clintel Solutions
establishing 2006. The organization provides first class solutions and support as per the
requirements of health care organizations. Thus, whether it is advanced EMR solutions or old
traditional system the organization offers all these system at reasonable price. The different type

9
IT VALUE REALIZATION
of EMR solutions including the record keeping system are provided by the organization to health
care units as per their needs.
Thus, Clintel Clinic Solutions as already mentioned has a huge successful operations and in the
country as it has sold number of different options.
The organization offers to run functions including instituting the system and implementing it for
the first few months. The architecture of the software include proper programming and providing
professional training to the people in the country to ensure they are in proper position to
discharge the function under new system.
Computers, hardware, software, internet and networking devices are basic equipment are
required for the EMR to function effectively. Thus, in short all necessary information must be
properly accounted for and viewed at the end of match.
Improper and incorrect recording of transactions, faulty maintenance and record keeping system
under new ERM will create lots of problem for a new show that too a chat show in while nothing
will ever be accounted for in the future.
The risk of implementation of a new system is always a challenge for any type of organization.
The risk include in this case is incorrect implementation of ERM system resulting in wrong and
incorrect method to keep record, unsystematic way to maintain records within the system etc.
The Clintel Clinical Solutions will provided number of solutions to the healthcare unit in the
country, these are end to end fully integrated clinical solutions, end to end fully integrated billing
system and end to end fully integrated administration system. All these systems are expected to
provide top quality solutions to the healthcare unit (Daemmrich, 2013).

10
IT VALUE REALIZATION
Part 2:
National approach:
With the fundamental objective of achieving improvement in the health care sector EHR has
been introduced within the organization. IT and other advanced technology including have
improved the lives of people in all across the globe by improving their lives in general. Thus, it
was only a matter of time before the extensive use of IT and other advanced technology
including networking was made extensive even in the health care sector. Australia in fact is one
of the latest to approve EHR implementation in health care sector. With the Australian people
firmly behind the implementation of EHR in healthcare the implementation process was far more
smooth than expected. As per the findings of NEHTA study more than 80% people who
participated in the study, i.e. 2700 participants to be precise from all across the country, have
strong supporting views for the implementation of EHR. Even further the study showed that out
of the 2700 respondents almost 90% of the total respondents were of the view that Federal
Government should be in charge of the implementation process as it is an important decision
which could bring paradigm shift in the healthcare industry as a whole (Freedman and Lin,
2018).
The business context of EHR:
The primary objective of healthcare industry is to ensure that the quality of health care services
are provide to the people at low and reasonable prices to the patients. However, despite the
auspicious objective of health care industry there is no doubt that the doctors’ practice as well as
various health care units around the country have a very modern approach to health care as the
objectives now also include ensuring profit earning capability of an organization. Thus, the
healthcare organizations including the chambers of the doctors also look to earn maximum

11
IT VALUE REALIZATION
amount profit by providing health care services to the patients. The importance of business case
scenario to the overall assessment of e-health including EHR implementation in an organization
is important to assess the overall merit behind introduction of EHR by investing such huge
amount of funds in the e-health. To understand the investment in EHR from business context the
following broad points shall be helpful (Xu, Gao, Sorwar & Croll, 2013).
Impact of EHR policy:
The impact of EHR policy firstly shall be assessed on the healthcare business and in doctors’
practice. It is important to correctly assess the different impact of EMR implementation on the
overall healthcare policy in the country. It is only after proper assessment of impact on policy in
the country that it would be possible to correctly assess the benefits of the policy on the overall
health care facilities in the country.
Economic uncertainty involved with the implementation of EMR:
The changes in government whether at the state territory level or at the central, the impact of
these changes in EMR is clearly visible with new governments will make necessary changes in
the existing system as per their wish without notifying center in this regard.
Unified approach:
The large private sectors have rendered the process of designing a simple e-health system very
complex. Both state and territory governments must contribute to the overall funding
requirement to fulfill his duties in the country. This is a unified approach to ensure proper
functioning e-health system with effective funding.