Adoption of Electronic Health Records
Application: Adoption of Electronic Health RecordsEHRs are an important focus of the HITECH Act. To comply with thislegislation and to make the best use of their organization’s resources,health care managers should develop a clear understanding of the natureof EHRs and of factors that promote or mitigate against their adoption.Prepare for this Application Assignment as follows:Select a particular functional area within a health care setting. Thismust be an area that makes use of the types of patient data found inEHRs. Examples include: a hospital’s admissions department, emergencyroom, pharmacy, or nursing unit; or the billing department or outpatienttreatment department at a clinic or physicians’ office.Review this week’s Learning Resources and conduct a literaturesearch to determine factors that promote and hinder adoption of an EHRsystem across this type of organization and within this area in particular.Look not only for technological, but also human factors that impact theadoption of EHRs.Then write a 2- to 3-page paper that addresses the following:What are key problems related to the adoption of EHRs in yourselected functional area?What factors promote the adoption of EHRs in this particularsetting?Describe solutions that have been found to promoting adoption ofEHRs and to overcoming barriers. Include specific examples, and be sureto address technological as well as human factors.What are specific steps management can take to facilitate theadoption of EHRs?
