Reduce OVerall Healthcare Spending By means of Electronic Well being Records
Electronic health records are growing in popularity as the government is mandating a changeover to new electronic records within the next few years. Not only is this being done to improve the efficiency of the system but electronic records management can greatly reduce the overall cost of health care. It may surprise some but there is also an environmental benefit to changing over to an electronic health records system.
The health care system in the United States is far from environmentally friendly. Hospitals around the US combine to consume more than $9 billion dollars in energy each year. Likewise, they contribute not only 16% of the US GPD but more than 8 percent of the total green house gases measured annually. Couple that with the fact that hospitals put out staggering numbers of biohazard chemicals and toxins and there is a clear need to make the system more efficient. EMR systems not only save money but the reduce the massive carbon footprint of the US healthcare system.
This list shows a number of the primary methods through with electronic health records and improved patient management will allow hospital administrators around the United States reduce their spending and improve overall patient care and efficiency.
1. Electronic health records are shared digitally through EMR systems, making all of that patient data available in multiple facilities. Through a closed network, hospitals, nursing facilities, clinics, emergency medical personnel, etc. can easily reduce the hundreds of thousands of tons of paper used each year in paper medical charts, reporting and patient transfer documentation. This can get excessive when documents are duplicated and triplicated to be read by various facilities and control services.
2. Through the use of these shared electronic health records, medical personnel can easily track patient care and meet with patients or review their condition in a virtual environment. This not only reduces travel time but will create a mass reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from reduce road travel.
3. Chemicals that are highly toxic, commonly used in the development of films for x-rays and other scans is greatly reduced as many of these scans can be shared, transferred and viewed digitally without the need for image development.
If facilities want to reduce cost in a down economy and work toward a more environmentally friendly model then electronic health records is a step in the right direction. Not only are there cost-saving benefits but it reduces the wait time for patients and improves the care and handling of the sick and injured within the healthcare system.
The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009, which was part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, includes almost $20 billion USD in incentives for organizations to adopt electronic health records starting early 2011. The ultimate goal is work toward a paperless system by computerizing a significant portion of health records by 2014. The benefits of such a program are vast as seen above and those benefits are rich between both patients and the people behind the health care organizations.
Electronic Health Records simplify the storage and retrieval of patient data and can make your billing procedures far more efficient. Discover how an EMR System can improve your medicare payout and streamline your office
