By Lilian Mwihaki
Ass. Home Healthcare Administrator
Technology is significant to patient care and quality performance thus the outcomes and costs are justified. Technology has changed the organization of medical services with services that were offered in hospitals now available to outpatients in an outpatient setting or home (Shi & Singh 2015). Other communication and supporting tools such as telemedicine, and imaging encourage collaboration between the healthcare ecosystems. In the end, EHRs simplify the documentation process and enhance patient satisfaction and the delivery of care required.
Ways that IT technology has been used to enhance patient care through the adoption of Electronic Health Records (EHRs) to reduce medication errors, and track the quality of care, and safety (Shi & Singh 2015). EHRs have been a mandate for healthcare facilities for quite some time. EHRs improve physicians’ engagement by making documentation a part of the physician/clinicians’ day by capturing information at the point of contact, increasing documentation accuracy resulting in quality of care, and reducing mistakes. (Adler, Everson, Lee 2015).
The availability of technology through EHRs, and telemedicine adoption, reduces the face-to-face contact between patients and physicians. The convenience through alternative settings such as home healthcare, where nurses can do skilled visits, document health status at the patients’ home, and share the information with the primary care doctor, allows remote progress monitoring, maintaining quality of care and saving costs.
Technology has reduced complications, new medical cures have increased longevity, and new drugs have helped stabilize chronic conditions, which are expensive (Shi & Singh 2015). Though expensive to adopt, improved EHR systems and other telemedicine adoptions will lead to major savings in healthcare costs by improving efficiency through the automation of general administrative tasks such as scheduling, improving claims, and processing.
Therefore, the utilization of technologies such as the EHRs benefits the business and the patient, the EHR adoption in home health is associated with improved process authenticity and patient satisfaction, saving physician/clinician time and improving physician-patient relationships. The simplification of the patient documentation process helps organizations meet the demands of value-based care. This improves the business side of a healthcare facility by reducing billing mistakes and fast-tracking reimbursements, while patient care has improved care due to ease of documentation and accuracy at the point of care.
References
Adler-Milstein, J., Everson, J., & Lee, S.-Y. D. (2015). EHR Adoption and Hospital Performance: Time-Related Effects. Health Services Research, 50(6), 1751–1771.
https://doi-org.links.franklin.edu/10.1111/1475-6773.12406
Shi, L., & Singh, D. A. (2015). Delivering health care in America: a systems approach. Burlington, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.