Technology System Recommendations Assignment
Organizations purchase and install technology systems following critical assessment and their fitness to answer the institution’s technology needs. After a critical comparison between Epic and Allscripts software applications, I think Epic is recommendable for my organization for various reasons discussed hereafter. This paper aims to describe the reasons for the choice of this software for my organization based on its ability to meet the technological, ethical, and health information management needs of my organization. Technology System Recommendations Assignment
PLACE YOUR ORDER HERE NOW
Technology System Recommendations: Needs
My organization offers primary, secondary, and tertiary care in various departments and units, and patient health data and information is shared among different departments for ease of workflow. In chronic care departments and outpatient clinics, clinicians need to communicate with their patients remotely and follow them up. Epic is an electronic health record (HER) software that will communicate and interact remotely. It is centered around users who include clinicians and patients. According to Windle et al. (2021)Technology System Recommendations Assignment, a more usable and useful system is user centered. Therefore, Epic is more appropriate for my organization to ensure patient-centered care and adequate patient to clinician communication while providing basic electronic health record features.
Health Regulations and Laws Ramifications: Daily Operations
Meaningful communication and data sharing in healthcare rely on secure technological connection systems. Data sharing enables clinicians to access patient information for clinical decision-making. Therefore, Epic software which has higher interoperability, will enable collaboration between clinicians and other health care providers in my organization. Epic has an embedded health information exchange system that allows for sharing patient data with other institutions with the Epic system, which risks access to the third party. Nevertheless, this information sharing allows would ensure improved care access by our patients. Technology System Recommendations Assignment
One of the ramifications of EHR use in healthcare is clinical burnout and reduction of clinician-patient physical interaction time. Clinicians will spend much more time on the EHR system at the expense of their patients. When this is not addressed, the system will have poor usability and burden the workflow. The Epic software will attempt to provide solutions for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (ONC) objectives to improve patient workflow and data flow while ensuring improved adoption of health information technology (Healthit.gov, 2021). However, the institution will have to watch out for overreliance on EHR to improve clinical engagement between clinicians and patients.
Technology System Recommendations: Regulations and Laws
Two common laws and policies regarding patient data collection, sharing, and use are the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act and the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. These laws protect patient health information and ensure unified patent data collection and meaningful use (Windle et al., 2021)Technology System Recommendations Assignment. In my organizations, patient information is shared internally between clinical departments and auxiliary departments, thus need for interoperability and data safety. Violation of the two regulations can jeopardize data sharing and interdepartmental communications. Epic has a security system that ensures the users log in so that the patient data is secured, and unauthorized parties do not have access.
Technology System Recommendations: Staff
Various staff members have specific requirements from a health information system. Some require assistance with decision-making and patient follow-up, while others use the system for administrative purposes. Epic system, like other EHRs, offers all these functionalities (Shull, 2019). Epic offers functionalities that range from essential clinical documentation and clinical decision support to administrative health tracking and reports. Staff satisfaction with the system has been guaranteed with Epic system over other systems. According to Williams et al. (2019)Technology System Recommendations Assignment, physician satisfaction is critical in clinical workflow, thus better clinical outcomes for patient care.
Technology System Recommendations: Ethical
Information sharing, especially patient health information, comes with various ethical concerns. Fair use and protection of patient-sensitive health information are some of the concerns that electronic use of patient data brings. Epic system addresses concerns through the data exchange feature that allows other users to access patient information for clinical decision-making. The just use of data as a resource ensures collaboration between users of patient information to deliver timely care. Epic, being the most widely used EHR in the US, holds a monopoly over other software applications, making it capable of sharing important clinical data (Al Ani et al., 2020). It has higher compliance with HIPAA and HITECH patient data protection and uses data encryption, restricted access, and transport layer securities (Bell et al., 2018)Technology System Recommendations Assignment. Therefore, it will aid the institution in the ethical management of patient data through safety, meaningful use, and sharing.
Technology System Recommendations: Financial Resources
Financial investment entails the dedication of the institution’s finances to the software to make meaningful profits or value over a while. EHRs are known to improve the efficiency of care delivery which is an outcome of money and time invested against the outcome of the investment. Investing in this software guarantees reduction in time for clinical decision-making and the efforts in information sharing among clinicians. The cost of the system software purchase and installation varies with the institution’s size and requirements and is only available on request. Financial resources gained from clinical care can thus be plowed into investing in an EHR system that guarantees care efficiency. Therefore, Epic would be a wise financial investment with reliable appreciable outcomes. Technology System Recommendations Assignment
Conclusion
The Epic system offers superior functionalities to answer my organization’s technological needs. Documented research evidence has shown that the Epic system has been the most studied and widely used EHR system that can offer various clinical and administrative functionalities. Its compliance with health technology laws and regulations has also been studied and recommended. It would therefore be a financially wise investment. Technology System Recommendations Assignment
ORDER HERE NOW
References
Al Ani, M., Garas, G., Hollingshead, J., Cheetham, D., Athanasiou, T., & Patel, V. (2020). Which electronic health record system should we use? – a systematic review. In bioRxiv. https://doi.org/10.1101/2020.10.11.20210930
Bell, L., Gentilin, S., Sonne, S., Mauney, T., & Flume, P. (2018). Providing restricted access to an electronic medical record for research monitoring. Clinical Researcher (Alexandria, Va.), 32(3).
Healthit.gov. (2021, March 12). About ONC. Healthit.Gov. https://www.healthit.gov/topic/about-onc
Shull, J. G. (2019). Digital health and the state of interoperable electronic health records. JMIR Medical Informatics, 7(4), e12712. https://doi.org/10.2196/12712
Williams, D. C., Warren, R. W., Ebeling, M., Andrews, A. L., & Teufel, R. J., Ii. (2019). Physician use of electronic health records: Survey study assessing factors associated with provider reported satisfaction and perceived patient impact. JMIR Medical Informatics, 7(2), e10949. https://doi.org/10.2196/10949
Windle, J. R., Windle, T. A., Shamavu, K. Y., Nelson, Q. M., Clarke, M. A., Fruhling, A. L., & Tcheng, J. E. (2021). Roadmap to a more useful and usable electronic health record. Cardiovascular Digital Health Journal, 2(6), 301–311. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cvdhj.2021.09.007 Technology System Recommendations Assignment
