| The HITECH Act as the part of Economic | | | | implementation. The main aspect of this is that |
| Stimulus Package provides incentives to | | | | the electronic medical records run from the |
| computerize paper health information within a | | | | technology. Infrastructure considerations also need |
| period of five years. As a result, the | | | | to account for the bandwidth required for data |
| implementation of electronic medical records is a | | | | transfer. |
| top priority among physicians, practices, clinics and | | | | Integration of the Paper Charts |
| hospitals. | | | | The existing hard copy charts will need to be |
| The Buying Process Important Things to Consider | | | | scanned and imported into the system for each |
| The decision process should look at work-flow, | | | | patient to make the computerized chart complete. |
| hardware and technology, integration of the paper | | | | One way that this may be done is to scan the |
| files and HIPAA security. Once a decision is made, | | | | documents directly into program. Each document |
| it will be difficult and expensive to start over again | | | | type is scanned into the appropriate category. |
| with a new system. Therefore, it is essential for | | | | The scanning of one category at a time is quite |
| the organization to buy the right software. | | | | slow and therefore more costly. The organization |
| Computerized Charting Work-flows | | | | can save money by using batch scanning to |
| EMR is not a one size fits all solution. It is | | | | speed the process. Many vendors have batch |
| necessary to consider the specialty of the | | | | import modules or a script to import the scans |
| practice and the size of the organization in order | | | | and the meta-data into the meta-database. |
| to make the right choice. Specialty EMR may help | | | | Security and Privacy |
| speed clinical work-flow through the use of | | | | Patient privacy concerns - Patient medical data is |
| templates and features to enter the data into the | | | | required to be kept private because of laws and |
| chart. For instance, specific solutions are available | | | | regulations. A computerized health record |
| to Pediatrics, Surgery and OB/GYN fields to name | | | | presents new issues to the privacy of the |
| a few. Furthermore, the size of the organization is | | | | records due to hackers and computer failures. |
| another valued factor to take into consideration. | | | | HIPAA compliance Issues - Many of the currently |
| For the most part, the systems fall into | | | | existing online record systems do not comply with |
| categories for smaller Doctors/Clinics and larger | | | | HIPAA [Health Insurance Portability and |
| Hospitals/Enterprise-level. | | | | Accountability Act] and the HITECH Act which |
| Importance of Hardware Infrastructure | | | | defines the requirements for being compliant. |
| But software cannot work without computer | | | | Once the important steps are considered, you will |
| systems. Hardware is basically the physical parts | | | | have gathered the information to make a decision. |
| of the infrastructure used in running the program. | | | | But that does not mean that you are finished. Get |
| They include parts like workstations and servers, | | | | input from the Doctors, demo the program or try |
| tablet PC, laptops, monitors, scanners, networking | | | | it online. Choose carefully and the chances of a |
| components like Routers and Bridges, etc. The | | | | successful implementation are very good. |
| right computer system is of importance in the | | | | |