Problem Statement

Healthcare providers are under increasing pressure to manage costs. The fiscal environment facing the industry is undergoing dramatic change. Insurance companies that once issued blank checks for reimbursement are now moving to fixed payment systems. Managed care providers that dominate the industry in many states, along with Federal programs, are instituting capped expenditure models. Hospitals that could once charge whatever their full costs were and expect total reimbursement are feeling the pinch. In California, two-thirds of hospitals are losing money, bleeding red-ink because of cost over-runs.[1]

Hospitals are slowly coming to the realization that they must institute systems to streamline workflow processes and reduce internal costs in order to price their products and services competitively while maintaining commitment to a quality level of service.
Due to decreasing compensation from insurers and rising costs, medical providers are taking on more patients to raise revenue. At the same time medical insurers and hospital networks are requiring more paperwork for every patient visit and procedure. Over the last 20 years time spent on administrative paperwork has more than doubled for physicians and nursing staff. One-third of physicians report spending over 10 hours each week filling out forms, up from 4 hours in 1980[2].

A healthcare provider’s primary obligation is patient care. Appropriate use of existing technology can alleviate some of the burden on medical staff, allowing focus to return to patient needs. Moving to digital records management can provide staff with immediate access to charts, history and current treatment. Information updates can quickly replicate to a central repository which can be seen by all those connected to the system. Digitized prescriptions can be sent immediately from a physicians handheld PC to a dispensing pharmacy. Medical information systems can reduce errors and improve input accuracy. Databases that can analyze complex drug interactions may reduce the estimated 7,000 deaths each year caused by medication errors[3].

Though far from a panacea for all that troubles the healthcare industry, adoption of electronic medical records systems can provide some solutions to the issues described previously.

[1] Winn, 2002
[2] Wilson, 2005
[3] Wilson, 2005