Analysis of the Key Issues Associated with EHR Program in Canada
Key issues
Despite the fundamental role that the projected program plays in saving Ontario’s cost of the healthcare system, the estimated cost of implementing the entire initiative is too huge. Nevertheless, the introduction of the EHR would see the hospital save lots of money annually in its operation (Office of the Auditor General of Ontario, 2009). However, with the high costs associated with the implementation of the program, most doctors feel thrilled to apply for the program within their profession in Ontario. According to Cavoukian and Alvarez (2012), despite the efforts that the government is making to back-up the implementation of the project, most medical practitioners are yet to embrace it for fear of costs that comes with the conversion of documents into the digital way. They are willing to apply the technology, but only if the costs of running the program is minimal and reliable.
Besides, other costs result from communication and transportation. Remarkably, the communication costs can be significantly high, especially when the physician has to be explained in details an entire record about a particular patient. Altogether, if doctors have to keep on moving from one office to the other within Ontario, the time spent on such trips can be expensive (Arellano, 2011). With the implementation of the program, physicians can communicate across all the health institutions within the country regarding the condition of respective patient through information retrieval from the electronic devices (Bretscher, 2011). As such, this would save the healthcare system the costs incurred when traveling to hospitals seeking for the same information regarding the previous conditions of the patient.
Outstandingly, an efficient Electronic Healthcare Records entails four major components for it to be effective. Such components include a security network through, which crucial information regarding the patient can be transmitted through. Secondly, there should be special application software that adapts to the demands of the healthcare system. Thirdly, it is necessary to have critical data concerning the patient like the history of the treatment results from various tests and others. Finally, there should be the terminal points from which data can be retrieved when necessary.
However, the implementation phase has taken more than a decade to be effective as a result of misappropriation of funds (Ajami & ArabChadegani, 2013). The healthcare system in Ontario has also anticipated challenges in loss of documents about patients. For example, about 12,000 documents for patients got lost recently, and this has accelerated the need to speed up the rate of EHR program implementation (Cavoukian & Alvarez, 2012). However, the majority of the doctors are not ready to take up the new medical care innovation. According to Cavoukian and Alvarez (2012), the implementation of the EHR calls for high maintenance costs and data security issues making the doctors stubborn in absorbing the innovation. Besides, she says that despite the fact that there has been tremendous progress within the healthcare systems, there are shortcomings emanating from the failure to introduce a business case for EMR systems.
Possible Implications or Consequences of the Issues on Patients
Notably, most of the activities within Ontario are handwritten, just as it was the customs and traditions of the nation many years ago. However, if the system of the EHR is integrated well with ICT, there could be fundamental improvements in the field of medical health. Inarguably, the system of EHR has the capability to capture all information regarding the patient through the electronic health record and as such, it helps in improving patient care as well as reducing the costs associated (Chen, 2014). The EHR project led to intense social damage with special regard to the absence of an operational system that yielded to lower attention being offered to the patients in Ontario. Imminently, this contributed to less quality care being delivered to the patients due to delayed project implementation.
Besides, the resistance to adopting the innovation has led to medical frauds which imminently result in increased mortality rates within the hospitals. Ultimately, in spite of the high maintenance costs associated with the implementation of the electronic health records in Ontario, there are other implications that come along with the innovation such as the issue of using the new comprehensive machines (Webster, 2009). The implication of this issue means that doctors have to undergo lengthy vocational training to have the necessary skills for operating the machines with no medical frauds at all. Ultimately, the introduction of electronic health records is one reason that turned off doctors from working.
Outstandingly, some of the doctors have been reported to proclaim through the media that if they are forced to adopt the innovation they will automatically resign from working. For example, Dr. Kunwar Singh was reported alleging that if the paperless culture would come to an end in Ontario, he just kiss goodbye to his career (Webster, 2009). Singh also added that the funding from the government was not good enough to meet the expectations of the doctors. Undoubtedly, Singh puts into light that the little money that the government offers covers only a small proportion of the entire funding required to complete the project. As a result, this has led to a retarded uptake of electronic health record within the Ontario provincial medical healthcare institutions.
Nevertheless, failing to implement a good EHR system will mean that tracking patient records will be hard. The ability to keep track of patient data over time and easily access it makes the use of EHR a profitable venture for Ontario. In turn, this would tantamount to improved patient care (Chen, 2014). A good EHR system also ensures that patient records remain private and that no unauthorized access is allowed. Any efforts to access the system would alert the necessary authority to make a follow-up on the issue and ensure that patient confidentiality is maintained (Arellano, 2011).
Recommendations
Among the key recommendations or strategies that can be adopted to manage the said issues, the management should focus on looking for productive individuals who can be entrusted with the mandate of transiting from the old methods to adopting the EHR program (Office of the Auditor General of Ontario, 2009). These are personnel who can be trusted with public funds and more so, with the full responsibility of overseeing the entire program coming to fulfillment. Besides, since there is resistance amongst doctors and other clinicians, there should be an open conference where all the medical staffs are educated on the value of embracing the new medical innovation and the role of IT in promoting safety and quality of life on the side of the patients (Webster, 2009). They will also get a chance to share their grievances on the program and provide suggestions and solutions on ways to improve the program. As such, this would also entail taking them through a vigorous exercise of training to show them how the program operates. Moreover, a comprehensive IT network that is capable of serving a larger area should be introduced. Above all, the government must also influence the rate at which the health regulatory colleges develop policies that take effect on the electronic healthcare records.
Besides, the cumbersome being loaded to the doctors needs to be reduced to achieve better and quality human service delivery within the medical institutions. With reliable working machines, the health fraternity can go miles in ensuring patients get quality treatment (Talaga et al., 2009). Software being innovated should be reliable enough to ensure the patient’s documents are safe and can be retrieved anytime when required. They should also guarantee security of patient records from an unauthorized access.
Furthermore, the government should prioritize events such that activities are aligned in order of necessity. Thus, policies should be formed to ensure that the economic requirements of the medical care systems are attended as well as ensuring that doctors are compensated effectively to avoid witnessing dramas along the streets as a result of unpaid dues (Webster, 2009). As such, the open user’s forum created by the OSCAR group has made attempts to solve some of the existing problems of cost and flexibility issues within organizations in Ontario (Webster, 2009). The OSCAR initiative should be developed to ensure that patients can easily have accessibility to their health records even at the bedsides or wherever there is the need. Through this innovation, patients can even learn how to intervene in disease protection through researching of the best healthy living standards thereby eliminating part of the workload that doctors encounter when treating serious diseases.
References
Ajami, S., & ArabChadegani, R. (2013). Barriers to implement Electronic Health Records (EHRs). Retrieved from https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3804410/
Arellano, N. (2011). Cost, data ownership, reliability issues plague Canada’s EMR program. IT Business. Retrieved from http://www.itbusiness.ca/news/cost-data-ownership-reliability-issues-plague-canadas-emr-program/16587
Bretscher, P. (2011, August). Project Fiasco. An Analysis of Ontario’s Electronic Health Record Project. Retrieved from https://ecommons.usask.ca/bitstream/handle/10388/ETD-2011-10-102/BRETSCHER-THESIS.pdf?sequence=3
Cavoukian, A., & Alvarez, R. C. (2012). Embedding Privacy into the Design of EHRs to Enable Multiple Functionalities: Win/win. Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario. Retrieved from https://www.ipc.on.ca/wp-content/uploads/Resources/pbd-ehr-e_1.pdf
Chen, M. (2014). How EHR design can affect patient safety. Retrieved from http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2014/01/ehr-design-affect-patient-safety.html
Office of the Auditor General of Ontario. (2009, October). Ontario’s Electronic Health Records Initiative. Retrieved from https://www.oanhss.org/oanhssdocs/Issue_Positions/External_Resources/Oct2009-Auditor_General_EHealth_Records_Initiative.pdf
Talaga, T., Reporter, S., Benzie, R., Ferguson, R., & Bureau, Q. (2009). eHealth squandered $1B; auditor says. Retrieved from https://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/2009/10/07/ehealth_squandered_1b_auditor_says.html
Webster, P. (2009). Ontario’s plan for electronic health records is at risk, official says. Retrieved from: http://www.cmaj.ca/content/182/6/E253.full
