a need to manage patient information with efficiency and the ability to allow access at the time of care.
This is not only limited to physicians and nurses in outpatient or in patient settings but also includes
insurance companies, researchers, and the government that also need access to patient data and
information. Also while managing our care, doctors and nurses may also rely other sources to assist them.
Labs may be drawn, imaging might be taken, prescriptions for medications will more likely be prescribed.
With the movement going towards an electronic health record system, there needs to be structures in
place to help protect the privacy …show more content…
(Abdelhak and Hanken pg. 62) (Gostin pg. 453)
The government became very involved with health information technology’s role in healthcare
from the very beginning. Submitting and processing insurance claims was becoming more and more
prominent and in 1996 the nationwide implantation of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability
Act (HIPAA) was in effect. This act provides multiple guarantees. Not only does it have the ability to
ensure health coverage when a person is switching or has lost their job but in relation to health
information technology it provides the exact standards for every submission of an electronic billing claim.
It also protects and ensures proper handling of protected health information (PHI). I can only assume that
purchasing an EHR system can be expensive. You not only have to purchase the system but also provide
training to help with implementation which possibly affect the budget of a health care organization
especially in rural areas. Two task forces ONCHIT and HRSA have teamed up with the U.S. …show more content…
(10.18.2016 face to face interview with Dr. Jeff Tomlin) (Gostin pg. 453)
Although one of the obstacles we face with health information technology adoption is not being
able to find a way to connect systems to allow for a “super highway” for information to be shared among
organizations, state side and nationally, we still must not forget the use it still provides us and the work
we have done as a nation to implement this contemporary system. Health information technology has
allowed not only efficiency in patient care but cost saving techniques that allow administrators at a
hospital to budget accurately to continue to provide great care. The quick delivery that it provides
clinicians is an example of an improvement of the slower methods of the past. I do not think we can live
without the data being a few clicks away and appearing on a computer screen or another electronic
device. The transformation of these systems have begun and has the potential to be even more useful that
it is today. (Abdelhak and Hanken pg. 76,