Automation of the Healthcare Industry

 RUNNING HEAD: Automation of the Healthcare Industry 1
The Impact of Medical Health Records on the Healthcare System: A Case Study of Kaiser
Permanente, Washington DC
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Automation of the Healthcare Industry 2
Overview
In the recent past there has been exponential technological innovations tearing through
every functional unit of the society. The health care industry is increasing facing complexity in
operation, increased public demand, complexity of diseases, sophisticated diagnostic methods
and need for confidentiality among patients, hospitals have been forced to adapt information
systems that will premise all these needs under one roof. Luckily these multifaceted needs can be
solved by enhanced computing power, increased data storage and sophisticated programs.
Technology has enabled organizations all over the world to enjoy infinite data storage and vast
computing power. Medical practitioners, computer scientist and academicians have aided the
health industry by leveraging on this breakthrough to develop health record systems. Researchers
and academicians alike concur that health care technology is the fastest growing sector in the
entire world. Although the concept is nascent and gradually evolving to cater for the diverse and
emerging issues in health care provision; the health care industry in the United States of America
is still touted as the most inefficient information industry, with most of the medical record still in
white and black (Rosenfeld, Bernasek and Mendelson, 2005). This is a major setback to both
the industry and the patients, as this result into disjointed patients’ medical history due to paper
loss. It is estimated annual income attributable to the United States of America is in excess of
$1.7 trillion, however, the reported cases of mortality is double the average of Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development which reports half of the United States of America
annual revenue (Hillestad, Bigelow, Bower, Girosi, Meili, Scoville and Taylor, 2005).
Health information technology is the beacon tool of health information systems (Wulsin
and Doughtery, 2008). These framework bring together all health industry stakeholders who
include health insurance providers, government, patients, health care providers and quality 
Automation of the Healthcare Industry 3
entities. Thus health information technology is a computerized platform that facilitates the
storage, easy retrieval, timely sharing of health care data, information and knowledge among the
health care stakeholders in a bid to enhance service delivery and effective communication
(Electronic Health Records Overview, 2006). Consequently health information technology can
be also be viewed as technological and informatics driven. Technological since it deals with the
creation of systems to facilitate efficient flow of health information among stakeholders while
informatics as it deals with processing of health information to make sound meaning to health
information users. The ultimate stakeholder, who benefits from the implementation of HIT, as it
is commonly referred, is the patient. Efficient flow and availability of health care information
helps patients to make sound medical and economic decisions. This was underpinned by the
signing of an executive order by President Bush in 2004 that formed the basis for expeditious
adoption of health information technology to enhance transparency in the health care industry. In
addition, various health studies postulate that adoption and implementation of health information
technology will save the industry in excess of $81 billion annually, with unquantifiable benefits
in form of provision of quality health care to patients, reduce premature mortality and eliminate
other negative healthcare events (Shortliffe, 2005). However some players are adamant due to
high infrastructural cost and subsequent loss of revenue due to shortened patient stay in
hospitals.
Health Information Technology and Medical Records
Health information technology is applicable from the first stage of diagnosis,
administration to the final stage of medicine dispensation (Hackbarth and Milgate, 2005).
Application platforms in health information technology that constitute prescribing are electronic
medical record or EMR, computerized physician order entry or CPOE, electronic medical 
Automation of the Healthcare Industry 4
records. Electronic medication administration records or EMAR and bar-coding at medication
administration or BarA constitute HIT that facilitates administration (Electronic Health Records
Overview, 2006). Lastly application platforms for dispensing are automated dispensing machines
or ADM, bar coding at medication dispensing or BarD and robot for medication dispensing or
(ROBOT).
Electronic health record is a functional unit of health information technology and has
positively impacted on the health car