Are Electronic Medical Records a Cure for Health Care

Summary:

The health care spending figures have inflated over the years in the U.S. by inefficiency, errors, and fraud. The U.S. in 2009 spent roughly $2.5 trillion on health care, which was 17.6% of its GDP. Information technology may have present an opportunity for health care providers. These providers have begun creating electronic medical record systems to eliminate much of the inefficiency inherent in paper-based record-keeping. Electronic Medical Record systems contain all of a person’s vital medical data, including personal information, a full medical history, test results, diagnoses, treatments, prescription medications, and the effect of those treatments. (Laudon & Laudon, 2011). With this ERM system in place, experts are believing in a reduce in medical errors, improve care, create less paperwork, and provide quicker service, all which will lead to a dramatic savings of an estimate $77.8 billion per year.

Problem:

The government is planning a short term and long term goal for the health care providers to have complete functionality of the EMR. The short-term goal is for all health care providers in the United States to have functional EMR systems in place that meet a set of basic functional criteria by the year 2015. The long-term goal is to have a fully functional nationwide electronic medical recordkeeping network. The problem at hand is that developers are unclear the systems being developed and implemented in 2010 will be compatible with one in 2015 and beyond jeopardizing the goal of a national system where health care providers share information. Other obstacles that could stand in the way for health care providers, health IT developers, and insurance companies are patients’ privacy concerns, data quality issues, and resistance from health care workers. So the question is, “Are Electronic Medical Records a Cure for Health Care?

Results/Implementation:

Why management, organization, and technology factors were responsible for Southwest’s problems with inventory management?:

Southwest experienced non visibility within their legacy system, so in turn at times information that was needed was readily available. The airlines