Health Policy Formulation and Analysis: Electronic Health Records

Health Policy Formulation and Analysis
Name
Institutional Affiliation
Health Policy Formulation and Analysis
Health Policy
Suggested Health Policy
Every healthcare facility must adopt and implement a working and approved Electronic Health Record (EHR) system to ensure efficient delivery of healthcare services throughout the entire continuum of care. This system will streamline service delivery and improve operational efficiency at the facility level.
Definition of the Problem
In the current healthcare setting, the existence of redundant processes and procedures has contributed towards a slow and lethargic healthcare system in most facilities. This is mainly because of the numerous processes that patients have to undergo and that physicians and nurses have to execute in order to deliver services. These endless and numerous processes result in a stifled healthcare setting and a facility that runs inefficiently, making it impossible to provide high quality and reliable services consistently (Elwood, 2003). This calls for an overhaul of the system to ensure that it works in a way that favors both patients and physicians by eliminating unnecessary processes that can hinder efficiency in service delivery.
Evidence of the Problem
In the modern healthcare setting, there are numerous departments, professionals, and services that work collaboratively to ensure the delivery of services (Bardach, 2005). Because of this, the paperwork and protocols that must be observed when admitting patients, providing medication, transferring patients, charging patients, billing hours for physicians, and even discharging patients are often overwhelming (Campanella et al., 2015). This makes it impossible to achieve patient satisfaction seeing as patients are consistently stressed out during their entire treatment period, whether inpatient or outpatient. There is a need to optimize how facilities admit, handle, treat, and care for patients across the entire continuum of care. In this way, patient satisfaction can be achieved while also easing the workload and stresses that nurses and physicians are subjected to.
Alternative Solutions
The most effective solution for this problem is for facilities to adopt an Electronic Health/Medical Record (EHR/EMR) system. Such a system allows facilities to easily share patient records with physicians, quickly admit and discharge patients, bill patients collectively so they can make single payments, and even calculate billed hours for physicians and nurses (Adler-Milstein & Bates, 2010). Through such a system, running healthcare facilities can be highly efficient. Similarly, this will translate into improved patient experiences and overall customer satisfaction.
At the same time, facilities can choose to create multiple clearance points where patients and their families can settle bills, receive medication, and access different services within the facility. Such a step-wise approach can help ease the congestion of patients and the subsequent delay of services that it causes.
Criteria for the Correct Solution
The most favorable solution to address the problem is one that enables patients to ease through the continuum of care with as little stress as possible (Bardach, 2005). At the s...