Healthcare providers use Electronic Health Record (EHR) system to electronically manage health services and patient data, for instance, medication, recovery progress, medical history, and other clinical data. Besides the clinical and medical information, EHR systems help carry out other business and administrative functions in a healthcare organization (Abed & Nasr, 2022). Technology is ever-changing and evolving and consequently getting complex. Thus, healthcare providers must make various considerations in procuring the right EHR system (Abed & Nasr, 2022). The main factors when selecting EHR include security, interoperability, and adaptability to business intelligence.
Firstly, the system’s security forms a key factor, especially in the wake of cyber security concerns. The health care provider needs to ensure that the EHR information management system handlers acquire the requisite training. Further, healthcare givers should procure an EHR system from a dealer that proves adherence to security protocols and standards that guarantee the organization’s protection (Sreenivasan& Chacko, 2021). The dealer must conduct a system penetration test to ensure that they conform to the regulatory and health organization standards.
Secondly, the EHR system should be interoperable with other systems within the scale of health care. Interoperability ensures that health caregivers acquire relevant and timely patient information. Further, interoperability helps transfer patients’ health information electronically without blockage between the EHR systems (Sreenivasan&Chacko, 2021). The provision of health care involves several physicians and clinicians in handling the patients at different levels, including conducting referrals (Sreenivasan&Chacko, 2021). The physician can transfer and refer the patients from their EHR system.
Lastly, the EHR system should possess the ability to carry out an analysis of business intelligence. A system with relevant analytics will ensure that the EHR system provides clinical, business, and organizational goals that determine its success (Abed & Nasr, 2022). EHR that contain proper business intelligence tool sets will help to generate the required operational insights (Abed & Nasr, 2022). The EHR system vendor should be able to adopt the latest advanced technology, for instance, Artificial intelligence.
In conclusion, the Security of the EHR and interoperability between the organization systems and Business Intelligence form critical considerations in purchasing and installing an EHR system. Regular review of these factors is essential to ensure that the patient’s data is secured, the systems are effective, and it guarantees the support of the administrative functions (Abed & Nasr, 2022). These considerations inform the types of questions that the caregiver must ask before procuring the EHR systems.
References
Abed, A. H., & Nasr, M. (2022). Business Intelligence (BI) Significant Role in Electronic Health Records-Cancer Surgeries Prediction: Case Study. Int. J. Advanced Networking and Applications, 13(06), 5220–5228.
Sreenivasan, M., & Chacko, A. M. (2021). Interoperability issues in EHR systems: Research directions. Data analytics in biomedical engineering and healthcare, 13-28.