You have definitely heard much about Health
Information Technology lately with numerous
politicians and organization advocating for the
introduction of a whole nation-wide Health IT
system. While it sure sounds very progressive
not everyone understands what it is all about
and what are the benefits of introducing such a
system for separate individuals. Do not worry,
this is the place to find about more about
Health IT!
What Health Information Technology
is all about?
Health Information Technology is simply a
term, which popularly denotes the concept of
“electronic medical records”. This is the
concept of storing all the data you have in
a typical medical record in electronic form
with much easier and wider accessibility for
medical staff to that information as
compared to traditional paper records.
What benefits does Health
Information Technology provide?
Health IT is believed to improve the speed
and quality of healthcare services,
minimizing potential risks of having little
information on the patient. It is especially
useful when the person visits more than one
doctor and has more health concerns. For
instance, visiting your primary care
physician and another specialist will be
much more effective as both will have access
to the same information being aware of the
prescribed drugs and treatments that the
other has indicated. This will minimize the
chance of one doctor prescribing drugs that
will interact negatively with those
prescribed by another doctor, a situation
which is quite common these days. In that
way doctors will be much more efficient when
working with complex cases. Another great
example is a person injured in an accident
and requiring emergency healthcare. By
having an electronic database of medical
records doctors will be able to help the
person much faster and more efficiently.
Having a nationwide database of medical
records makes it almost impossible to lose
any data on the patient like it usually
happens during natural disasters when paper
records are destroyed. And with instant
access to the database from any medical
facility across the country it will take
seconds for the doctor to give you
appropriate care no matter how far from home
you are now.
Health IT system could also ease health
insurance use. Instead of filling out
numerous forms at your doctor's office it
will require only a few clicks of the mouse
to get the coverage you need. It's not only
beneficial for you, but it's also helpful to
your doctor, leaving him or her without the
need to run complex administrative paperwork
and giving more time to actually treat
people. And that of course will make cheap
health insurance really possible.
Minimization of administrative tasks is yet
another benefit the advocates of Health IT
are frequently using. By minimizing the
paperwork doctors and nurses will have more
time performing their actual tasks, which
will lead to increased efficiency and
shorter hospital stay for the patients. And
this of course will lead to more cheap
health insurance options.
What drawbacks does Health IT
system have?
Of course there are potential drawbacks to
Health IT, just like with any other thing in
this world. First of all, having the
potential to save billions of dollars in the
long-run, establishing a nationwide Health
IT system will require significant amounts
of money upfront. Upgrading medical
facilities with newer computers, scanning
and processing all paper records,
establishing secure storage of the digital
records will all contribute to a hefty price
tag the whole program will have.
Another cause for concern is the question
of security. People are worried about their
personal medical data to be accessed by
unauthorized persons (hackers) and used for
illegal purposes. That will eventually
require sophisticated and complex security
measures to be employed, which also requires
additional funding.
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