ITEC832 Electronic Medical Records - Assignment Solution

• Difficulties in building electronic medical record systems

In the year 2010 and even today, 80% of the independent physicians and 90% of the hospitals rely on paper record keeping. 

In 2003, there were only 5% of the US medical facilities that used the EMR systems which indicates the tough implementation of EMR system (Bates et al, 2003). 

Specific Factors:

Management Factor:

At management level, it is important for physicians, hospitals and insurers for meeting federal mandates for implementing the EMR or otherwise it is likely that they will face penalties. Townes et al. (2000) highlighted the importance of management in smooth implementation of EMR system. A leader with prime knowledge and the one who shows commitment to the overall system’s success is critical for successful implementation of EMR systems. Management plays an important role in acquiring funds by the federal government as high level of costs are associated with implementation of EMR. This includes the expenditure of overhauling recordkeeping systems and managing the rising short0twrm budgets. 

According to Wager et al. (2000), a leader who is strong enough to make things happen, help people in overcoming their apprehensions regarding EMR system and one who can serve as an advocate, can lead to smooth implementation of EMR system while removing the barriers faced by the EMR system during implementation process. Glickman et al. (2015) also highlighted the role of leadership in EMR implementation by indicating that active involvement of senior administrative leadership can promote the quality improvement and smoothen out the implementation of EMR system. 

Organizational Factor

Dansky et al. (1990) highlighted that the organizational support is a strong and positive predictor of the overall usefulness of the EMR systems. However, smaller health care providers find it difficult to afford the costs and time associated with upgradation of its recordkeeping system. The data quality issues, patient privacy concerns and resistance from the health care workers are some of the major barriers faced by the organizations while implementation of EMR system. Firm institutional commitment and core leadership programs can help in removing the barriers in adoption of EMR system. According to Townes et al. (2000), leadership commitment communication can lead to successful implementation of the EMR system. 

Technology Factor

Technological factors can also slow down or act as barriers in EMR implementation. According to Laudon and Laudon (2011), system compatibility and sharing of information amongst the hospitals and different medical facilities appear to be a technological barrier in smooth implementation of EMR. Many of the medical facilities try to satisfy the criteria for reporting the medical information to the government agencies, however these medical facilities might request data in different formats from each other which poses a threat of unequal and inconsistent software practices followed by different practitioners (Laudon and Laudon, 2011). Hence, it can be said that the major technological threats faced in EMR implementation include the compatibility that might jeopardize the goal of a national system where all the healthcare providers can share information without any hurdles.