So how many of you are aware that your jobs may be on the line?
Back in February 2009 a new act was produced that you may have heard referred to as the "Stimulus Bill", in which the proposed legislation was meant to assist the United States struggling economy at that time (and still is). Part of that legislation was the Health Information Technology (H.I.T.) Act that proposed that all healthcare establishments and indeed the infrastructure of healthcare itself adopt an Electronic Healhcare Record (EHR) for the purposes of establishing a more safe and securer society (cue the Emperor Palpatine remarks here).
The HIT act proposes that all healthcare organizations have an established EHR by the year 2015. But overlooked in this documentation is the fact that if your organization does not meet this mandate large penalities will befall them. These penalties number in the millions of dollars meaning that an already struggle healthcare organization, due to medicare and medicaid cuts, the non-insured, and so much more, could possibly go belly up, close it's doors and put working nurses OUT OF A JOB!
For this reason, vendors like McKesson, Epic, and many others have been working overtime to meet the needs of so many organizations that cannot afford to close their doors and add to an already worsening American unemployment rate and economy.
My question is, what do you know about EHRs? What have youd one to help? Are you on any committees? Will you be now that you know your job could be on the line? Let's start a discussion about this topic because although it is outdated by 2 years, it's still of the utmost importance and information has only been trickling down thus far, however I do believe the flood gates are about to open, if the levvies do not rupture first.
Jason
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May 30th, 2011 at 10:59 am
As a 50 year old who’s been in IT for 25+ years, I was invited to participate in the beta HIT consortium at a local college as part of the ARRA stimulus. Half our class was made up of nurses and half IT. Virtually everyone who stuck it out for the 6 month duration agreed it was a waste of time and taxpayer money. Although I’m sure some classes are worthwhile, I believe some colleges (like this one) see the HIT ARRA funds merely as a funding bonanza with little oversight. (This college is still begging for HIT program applicants in the paper every day.)
Other than learning about how to address adoption issues (older clinicians who resist change) and the government’s financial incentives for HIT compliance by 2014 (up to $15K per physician in each organization), no one learned anything practical. We never even saw an EHR screen.
The only thing I gained from the class is the realization that I want to be a nurse instead. Starting nursing school next fall. 🙂
June 2nd, 2011 at 9:13 am
How sad.
I’ve been a geek for way more years than I can count and a nurse for 30. It’s going to be wonderful.
I live in So Cal where Kaiser has had EPIC up and running for awhile. The patient portal is great. No papers to loose, take your ID to the lab, they know what to draw. Need to see a doctor in another city for an emergency, no problem if there is a Kaiser there. All your records are there for her to see.
Personally, EHR’s like anything else are what you and the organization make of them. I work in home health and we have been silo’d away from everyone else for longer than I can believe. Being one record for one institution is a mindset change, but will make everything safer in the end for the patient. And that is what matters.
June 2nd, 2011 at 4:16 pm
I’m just starting out in my nursing career, but as a former administrative assistant I have to say – I LOVE technology! I’m a big fan of electronic medical records – the system I work in is already using an EMR system and while I do see things that frustrate me, I am also pleased that the leadership is moving into the age of technology! Now if all the systems and screens could talk to each other so we didn’t have to do data entry in triplicate I’d be so excited!