Have you heard of the Electronic Health Records (EHR)? Well, it’s important that everyone involved, like the patient and all other parties, is benefiting from it. These systems are not only fundamental to a successful health system, but the systems are being developed constantly. Because of this constant development, there are a few issues we should discuss.
EHRs were created to enhance the speed that healthcare organizations that see patients, give them the care they need and then get paid. While the EHR changes healthcare, its moving parts haven’t been consistently updated to give patients over their experiences with their healthcare providers.
One reason for this is that the EHR, while it is a platform that can do a lot, it was actually designed to streamline patient care and keep costs from inflating. Neither of these has really worked because costs continue to rise and EHRs aren’t really up to date with all of the relevant information it needs. Another issue is the result of inflation, being that many healthcare facilities are being sold to larger healthcare providers and then being dismantled. Cost is then prohibitive to innovate because mergers and acquisitions dictate that any EHR is consolidated. Every EHR system is highly proprietary, which makes interoperability with other systems a non-starter for many companies.
Regardless of why this all isn’t happening as it should, it obviously isn’t. Many technologies have been developed that could be worked into the EHR to give patients more control, but with more and more upgrades, opportunities will be lost.
Governments from all over the world have spent a lot of money in attempts to promote the use of the EHR. Beyond the improvements happening over the years, the EHR still needs help.
If your medical practice is looking to make an investment in their patient’s ability to take control of their own health, call MyTek at 623-312-2440 to talk about how we can help you innovate your Electronic Health Records platform today.