IT in Healthcare

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Information Technology in the health care industry is driven by the idea of a national information infrastructure of the health care industry as well as by rising health care costs.

With IT Technology in the health care system so heavily there are ADVANTAGES and DISADVANTAGES for the system as well as the individual with the implementation of Electronic Medical Records. Advantages far outweigh in favor of the health care industry while disadvantages are primarily the concerns for the individual:

ADVANTAGES:


1. Higher staff productivity
2. Enhanced quality of care through the availability for more timely, complete and more organized information to the caregiver.
3. Cost savings through greater efficiency of data collection and review processes and elimination of duplicative data entry and tests.
4. Facilitation of research, medical education, quality improvement, outcomes assessment, clinical pathways, cost effectiveness and other organizational efforts.

DISADVANTAGES:

1. Patient privacy and security not being protected, which leads to the next three disadvantages.
2. Fear that the employers might have access to this information and deny employment or job advancement based on this information.
3. Fear that digitizing records will allow many more people legitimate access to medical records. Which can be misused if it is accessed by so many people.
4. Fear that they might be denied insurance because they are considered to be high risk.

The expenditures on information technology for health care have increased significantly. The health care industry spends approximately
$ 10 billion to $ 15 billion a year on information technology, and expenditures are expected to grow by 15 to 20 percent a year for the next several years. For a 20-doctor group a computerized record system can run approximately one million dollars and $ 20,000 to $ 50,000 for a two-to-three doctor group. The cost of a single medical office-based workstation has been estimated at
$ 20,000

There is no going back, only forward.