Health leaders outline benefits of EHRs
WASHINGTON, UNITED STATES — More and more medical institutions are leveraging the power of electronic health records (EHRs), with health leaders claiming its advantages outweigh its drawbacks.
On top of tending to their patients, nurses have to file mountains of documentation for reimbursements, and patient health files, among other things. Through EHRs, these administrative tasks can be accomplished through a few clicks.
In effect, health workers’ workloads have been alleviated, with their energies focused on their patients.
“While EHRs have their challenges, particularly in the realms of cost, technical issues, and the initial learning curve, their benefits in terms of improved patient care, enhanced communication, and better data management are substantial,” said Kelley Curtis, PharmD, chief pharmacy officer of Boise, Idaho-based St. Luke’s Health System.
According to Dan Roth, MD, chief clinical officer of Livonia, Mich.-based Trinity Health, the increased utilization of EHR signals a major shift to high-end technology in the health segment.
“In the next one, three, five years, we’ll be able to significantly alleviate that burden using technologies that are coming,” he said.
“The majority of our workforce is Gen Y or Gen Z,” added Joe Moscola, executive vice president of enterprise management at Northwell Health.
“They’re very much digitally native. There are certain things they’re just not accustomed to being able to do without the assistance of the chart.”
Cybersecurity challenges
With EHR utilization gaining more traction, medical firms need to tighten their security measures to combat cyber security attacks.
In February, Change Healthcare, a subsidiary of UnitedHealth Group, was targetted by a cybergang which incident crippled billing, payment processing, and other core operations across the industry, forcing providers to implement manual workarounds.
In its Q1 SEC filing, UnitedHealth reported that the ransomware strike cost $872 million in the first quarter of 2024, projecting an overall financial impact of up to $1.6 billion for the year.
According to a recent report by the HIPAA Journal, medical data breaches in the United States reached an all-time high in 2023, compromising the privacy of an estimated 133 million individuals.
Cybercriminals are increasingly targeting medical records due to the wealth of personal information they contain, which can be exploited for identity theft and other fraudulent activities.
Specifically, cybercriminals are looking for financial information, Social Security numbers, medical record account numbers, and health insurance policy data that they can use for various forms of identity theft.
