What are your thoughts Be sure that the responses to the  Post of peers include 2 peer reviewed references with content that demonstrates critical analysis and synthesis of references used.  

One of the healthcare information technology trends within my organization would be the use of Electronic health records (EHR). The use of EHR allows healthcare workers to communicate with one another, as well as with their patients. EHRs contain data concerning a patient’s medical diagnosis and treatment, that gives an extensive overview of the patient’s medical history (HealthIT.gov, 2018). This discussion will address the benefit and risks of EHRs.

EHRs have always been the cutting edge of technological advancement. McGonigle & Mastrian (2017) discusses the standards of EHRs are evolving and barriers to adoption remain as a collective momentum that would benefit clinicians and as well as patients. The benefits of using EHRs according to McGonigle & Mastrian (2017) are to increase delivery of guidelines-based care, enhanced capacity to perform surveillance and monitoring for disease conditions, reduction in medication errors, and decrease the use of care. Another potential benefit of EHR is patient support, which provides education and home telemonitoring for the patient. 

 Although using EHR brings several benefits within the healthcare setting, the use of it could potentially bring some risks. The downside of using EHRs while accessing care online may bring security issues. Privacy and security are one potential problem when accessing information online leaving an open door for cybersecurity concerns. This may increase malpractice liability, inaccurate data, and time and money (Hoden, 2020).

With this risk, legislation took a step forward in the advancement of EHRs. The legislation included a HITECH act, which provides incentives to health organizations and providers using EHRs. These incentives would provide reimbursement rates from Medicare and Medicaid Services (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2017). 

I believe the use of EHRs could be at the forefront in the advancement of healthcare as it shapes the future of technology. The advancement of EHRs from technology has allowed different applications such as mobile devices to become more accessible in healthcare. This would give way to telemedicine as well as remote telehealth. HealthIT.gov (2018), agrees the EHR system is built to go beyond standard clinical data collected in a provider’s office and can be inclusive of a broader view of a patient’s care.