The long migration to electronic health records (EHRs) in the U.S. is set to speed up with the funding authorized by the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009. But what are the specific risks when clinicians can’t access electronic health records? How far-reaching are the consequences when EHR data is lost, or its integrity is compromised? This paper looks at the mission-critical role of EHR systems, and introduces availability solutions that build in uptime protection to ensure the continuity of operation that both caregivers and patients can depend on.
® by Stratus Technologies, The Availability Company April 2009
Healthcare
24/7 Uptime for Electronic Health Records:
Microsoft Windows-based EHRs and
Stratus Medical Grade Servers
Abstract The long migration to electronic health records (EHRs) in the U.S. is set to speed up with the funding authorized by the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009. Recognizing how electronic health records help improve outcomes for patients, hold down rising costs and increase access to quality care, physicians and practice managers evaluating EHRs can be expected to assess their application software options thoroughly. The availability and reliability of the information technology (IT) infrastructure that supports the EHR application merit the same attention, yet tend not to be as well-understood. What are the specific risks when clinicians can't access electronic health records? How far-reaching are the consequences when EHR data is lost, or its integrity is compromised? This paper offers a look at the mission-critical role of EHR systems, and introduces high availability and continuous availability solutions that build in uptime protection to ensure the continuity of operation that both caregivers and patients can depend on. EHRs Improve Outcomes, Lower Costs An EHR, which some refer to as an electronic medical record (EMR), represents much more than simply a digital chart. When implemented and used in line with best practices, EHRs can make patient health records (PHRs) instantly accessible from any location at any time. Decisions about care can be based on complete information, and records are always current. Medical errors resulting from transcription mistakes and being unable to read a clinician's handwriting are prevented. Decision support tools, including treatment guidelines and protocols, may also be provided to assist caregivers. Expensive inefficiencies are eliminated as well. For starters, data about a patient need only be entered once. Money that might go to redoing tests is saved when all of the patient's results are available for review. The cost of administering claims can be driven down when the data required by payers is documented and online. Furthermore, denial of claims can be reduced. Improvements that result from implementing and using EHRs have been documented, and experts predict the impact of EHRs will grow as adoption increases. For example, a Johns Hopkins University study, originally reported in the Archives of Internal Medicine, looked at the use of clinical information technologies at 41 hospitals in Texas. Researchers analyzed death rates, complications, length of hospitalization and cost associated with greater and lesser levels of automation. A 10-point increase in the use of online notes and records was linked to a 115% lower death rate. "If these results were to hold for all hospitals in the United States, computerizing notes and records might have the potential to save 100,000 lives annually," said a senior author of the study, Neil R. 2Powe, MD. Another expert, Dr. David Brailer, who served as head of the health information initiative under President George W. Bush, has estimated a fully computerized health record system could save the 3industry between $200 and $300 billion annually.
24/7 Uptime for EHRs: Microsoft Windows and Stratus Medical Grade ftServer Systems Page 1 Accelerating EHR Adoption The start up investment in IT has stood in the way of many U.S. hospitals and physicians interested in EHRs, especially group practices and independent doctors. The American Reinvestment and Recovery Act of 2009 specifies funding and other provisions intended to reduce those obstacles. The legislation spells out significant financial incentives and penalties, carried out through the Medicare and Medicaid programs, to encourage doctors and hospitals to adopt and use certified electronic health records. "Physicians will be eligible for $40,000 to $65,000 for showing that they are meaningfully using health information technology, such as through the reporting of quality measures. Hospitals will be eligible for several million dollars in the Medicaid and Medicare programs to similarly use health information technology. Federally qualified health centers, rural health clinics, children's hospitals and others will be eligible for funding through the Medicaid program," 4states a Congressional f... [download for more]
