Electronic Health & Medical Records

Portrait of Mary Jo Deering

Advancing the use of patient-generated information to improve health and care

Mary Jo Deering | December 27, 2013

Providers base their care decisions on a wide variety of patient information, such as patient and family history, vital signs, reports of symptoms or response to treatment.  This information traditionally is created in a visit to a provider or laboratory, but there are increasing examples of information being created by the individual or caregiver outside the clinical setting and reported to the provider.  This information is known as patient-generated health-information (PGHI) or patient-generated health data (PGHD). 

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Portrait of Jacob Reider

Progress on Adoption of Electronic Health Records

Jacob Reider | December 6, 2013

New Data Shows Rapid Adoption of EHRs; Announcements of 2015 Policies
Since the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act – which included the creation of the Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs – was signed into law, the nation has seen unprecedented growth in the adoption and meaningful use of electronic health records (EHRs). Between 2009 and 2012, EHR adoption nearly doubled among physicians and more than tripled among hospitals. Every month, thousands of providers join the ranks of hospitals and professionals that have adopted or are meaningfully using EHRs.

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Portrait of Kathy Kenyon

A Guide: How to Identify and Address Unsafe Conditions Associated with Health IT

Kathy Kenyon | December 5, 2013

When front line clinicians confront a clinical mishap or unsafe condition in EHR-enabled healthcare settings (such as a medication error or a missed diagnosis) they may not connect the clinical event with how EHR use could have helped prevent it, how misuse or failure to use EHR functionality as intended contributed to the problem, or how weaknesses in EHR configuration, interfaces, or usability contributed.

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Portrait of Anand Parekh

Clinical-Community Linkages: A Step towards Better Health

Anand Parekh | November 21, 2013

As a practicing physician, I often counsel patients on the importance of healthy behaviors such as eating a nutritious diet, being physically active, and not smoking or abusing other substances. However, health education in the clinical setting is usually brief and of limited effectiveness – we have little means to reinforce our guidance in the patient’s day-to-day life.

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