Computer and Information System Essay

The single information technology system that holds the most potential for my organization is Electronic Health Records (EHR). The organization I am associated with is a small orthopedic surgery practice that houses five physicians. Each physician operates as an independent private corporation and maintains an individual chart for each patient. If a patient visits multiple physicians within the clinic, the patient will have multiple charts. The medical records area houses all the charts for all the physicians. An EHR system would reduce storage space, allow physicians to have better information access when treating patients already seen by other physicians within the clinic, and reduce costs in supplies for paper charts and medical records personnel. EHR systems are supposed to increase the quality of patient care and revitalize practices by saving the health care system by 77. 8 billion annually (Baron, 2005). Approximately 78% of physicians in the United States operate in practices with fewer than eight physicians (Baron, 2005). Therefore, overcoming and understanding the obstacles these small practices face will be essential in successful EHR systems. EHR systems work to help reduce repetitive processes such as prescription refills and documenting, real-time, conversations with patients for better continuity of care. The major barriers of EHR systems are initial costs, training, and long-term support. In all, an EHR system would allow physicians in our small practice to communicate more clearly with patients on the telephone, transmit important information efficiently to other specialists, spend less time paging through charts for obscure lab values, and allow physician’s access to current health information without having to leave the room and interrupt a patient encounter. By far, an EHR system would have the single most impact in my organization.