Question

Legal and Ethical Aspects of Healthcare chapter 1, 13 edition by george pozgar  

What advances in medicine led to the rise of the modern-day hospital and improved the quality of patient care?

Answer 1

Ans) Electronic Health Records (EHRs) replacing outdated paper records has been a massive game changer for everyone in the medical world.

- Medical assistants to medical coding professionals to registered nurses are just a handful of roles that have been impacted by this industry-wide implementation.

- Nurses and technicians are responsible for inputting patient data into a central, digitized system. Medical billers and coders appointments update patient records with diagnostic codes (such as test results) and submit medical claims to insurance companies.

- Not only can patients access their records at the click of a button, but it’s also ensured that mistakes are caught more quickly (without needing to pore over unreadable physicians’ handwriting).

- Among the many benefits that electronic health records have brought to healthcare include:

• Greater patient care:

- EHR can automatically alert the treating physician to potential issues (such as allergies or intolerances to certain medicines). EHRs can be accessed from nearly any medical facility, which is extremely useful for doctors assessing non-local patients (and crucial if the patient is unresponsive).

• Improved Public Health:
- EHRs provide invaluable data to clinical researchers, helping to advance medical knowledge and the development of treatments for common health problems (like viral outbreaks).

- A standardized health IT system can provide insights into how widespread an outbreak is, enabling preventative measures (such as increased flu shot production) to be put in place much more quickly.

• Ease of Workflow:
- Medical billers and coders are some of the most-impacted allied health workers, and – according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics – demand for this sector is expected to increase by 13% from 2016 to 2026. The introduction of EHRs has only made life easier for medical billers and coders.

- Entering data into a computerized system is much less time-consuming than paper-based methods, and it reduces the risk of errors in patient data and financial details. Accessing patient records digitally also allows medical coding experts to work from home, increasing efficiency and productivity.

• Lower Healthcare Costs:
- According to a study from the University of Michigan, shifting from paper to electronic health records reduced the cost of outpatient care by 3%. These researchers estimated this as $5.14 in savings per patient each month. In a large city hospital network, that amount is incalculable.