The past few years have been more of a topsy-turvy ride for the healthcare industry in the US. Initially backed by then president G.W Bush, electronic medical records have become levers for change today. The economic difficulties and increasing burden of rising healthcare costs have deprived most Americans of quality care. The pursuit of affordable and accountable care is an uphill struggle, but to secure a future for our healthcare system and population health, we must invest today. While healthcare has been notoriously sluggish in adopting IT, today it is breaking new grounds. Rapid expansion of the health IT structure and support has enabled providers to move towards a more efficient and secure platform for care.
However, EMR adoption itself has not been a smooth process. While the reported percentile of adoption stands close to 60%, there are areas where it has struggled to make a mark. Providers have been using the paper record system for ages and now they are actually good at it. Most offices are designed to enable faster access to records, filed immaculately and tracked through reference registers. Electronic medical records though, are still new, untested on a larger scale with untapped potential. “It is not easy for providers to move to EHRs, despite its customizable and configurable qualities. It takes time to learn and it is not a comfortable process. You lose business, work overtime and often go to bed with a migraine”, shares a practice administrator.
On the other hand, benefits of health IT can no longer be disputed either, “EMRs along with Health Information Exchanges (HIE) are truly transformational technologies. Today, physicians are looking towards these systems and asking questions such as, how can we add more value? How can we utilize past data and learn from previous encounters? How can we affect population health? It is because IT is enabling them, by providing them with the tools to do it”, says one industry expert.
When Investment Rhymes with Canada
Canada has a proud history of achievement in the areas of science and technology, and the field of biomanufacturing and life sciences is no exception.
Healthcare can truly transform with health IT. While it may have yet to win over some naysayers, one thing is for sure, paper in medicine is headed for extinction. “There is no value to paper, it is perishable, space consuming and inefficient,” said a Nurse Practitioner. Most providers today echo similar sentiments. Technology is a facilitator, and EMRs are a pathway to better care. Those supporting evidence based practice along with the use of big data understand the value in digitized health information.
Read more: We did it again! CureMD ranks 3rd in the Top 20 most Popular EHRs.
