Electronic Medical Record (EMR) Systems Research Paper

Electronic Medical Record (EMR) Systems - Research Paper Example Though there are systematic reviews concluding that EMRs have the potential to reduce medication errors, save clinicians’ time, promote adherence to evidence-based guidelines in management of various health conditions, and improve patient safety; adoption of EMR systems is still low in health care setting (Jones, & Blavin, 2013; King, Patel, Jamoom, & Furukawa, 2014). According to Jones, and Blavin (2013), only 1.5% of the non-federal acute care facilities had a comprehensive electronic health record system in 2008 while only 7.6% had installed basic EMR. To facilitate widespread adoption and utilization of HITs, the Congress passed the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) provisions of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, with an overarching aim of enhancing the efficiency, quality as well as safety of the American health care system (Silow-Carroll, Edwards, & Rodin, 2012). Through Medicaid and Medicare EHR programs, HITECH av ails financial incentives to eligible health care providers and hospitals that adopt and demonstrate meaningful use of the health information technology. The meaningful use legislation seems to be associated with increased adoption and implementation of EHR systems in various health care settings. For instance, in the year 2012, about 17% of non-federal acute care health care centers reported to be using a comprehensive EHR system while 27.6% reported to have adopted a basic EHR system.