All Entries Tagged With: "electronic medical record"
New York hospital to offer personal health records for patients
New York Presbyterian Hospital, which is responsible for caring for 20% of all of New York City’s patients at its clinics, will be launching a new personal health record program to help patients better manage their own care, reports The New York Times. Although certain health plans around the country have partnered with technology providers to offer their plan members the chance to fill out their own personal health records, this instance represents the first attempt by a hospital to do so with its patients.
At first it will just roll the plan out to heart patients, although eventually the hospital intends to involve many more patients. Patients will be trained on how to use the personal health record while they are in the hospital.
Although the Obama Administration’s focus is on improving electronic medical records, and not personal health records, the two both can simplify healthcare and keep patients safer, the article says.
Cost of electronic health records a deterrent for hospital use
We’ve heard much about electronic health records over the past few months, especially since the U.S. government intends to spend a significant amount of money helping hospital systems install them. And it turns out, an overwhelming majority of hospitals and hospital systems will need that money to even make a foray into the electronic world. The New England Journal of Medicine published a study yesterday that shows that overall, a meager 1.5% of hospitals in the U.S. have a fully functional, top of the line electronic health system. A slightly larger percent (7.6) of hospitals have some sort of EHR functioning in at least one or a few areas, and computer-physician order entry is used by 17% of hospitals.
The main reason that only 1.5% of hospitals are using EHRs is the cost, the article says. Also, those involved in researching the topic think that although there is going to be a lot of money available to help implement more fully-functioning EHRs, the current lack of EHRs will be a significant barrier to moving ahead with healthcare goals that depend electronic health information technology. Interoperability–having EHRs among many hospitals and hospital systems that can talk to each other–is another big concern.
Although this number is a lot lower than I thought, it does not completely surprise me. Most staff members at hospitals with whom I speak either do not have EHRs, or have one for the emergency department, or another department–not for the entire hospital.