Benefits of Mobile Health Records
The health care industry has been very slow to take advantage of emerging technologies and electronic healthcare. Electronic Medical Record systems have been around for over 30 years now, yet we are just now seeing a large increase in adoption. Our tailored systems offer many of the benefits of larger EMR solutions without the drawbacks. Below is an an overview of the different problems that our technologies seek to address:
Reduction in medication errors
Current and historical records of prescribed and filled medication will be available for both the pharmacist and the physician to use in determining what to prescribe and any potential interactions. Also, the medication prescribed by the physician will be available electronically on the Mobile Health Record, leaving no room for misinterpretation.
Enhanced health treatment
The physician will have all of the patient's medical history information available; not just the information in the physician's local patient's records.
Reduced administrative expenses
The patient's demographic and insurance data can be retrieved electronically from the patient's health card. (Eligibility and benefits can easily be automatically validated if the issuing party supports on-line access to this data.)
Improved patient service
No longer must the patients fill out redundant information time and time again. All patient demographic, insurance and personal health history is available on the Mobile Health Record when the patient is signing in at the physician's office. This data is also available when the patient is being admitted and discharged from the hospital as well as when picking up prescriptions.
Reduction in fraud
Personal Identification can be stored on the card and used by health care personnel to ensure that the person using the card is the person whose insurance information is reflected on the card.
Enhanced emergency treatment
Emergency personnel have immediate access to pertinent patient health, medical and medication data.
Current Issues in Healthcare
Healthcare problems represent one of the substantially difficult and expensive problems in America today. The United States spends an average of 2.1 trillion dollars per year in healthcare costs—an equivalent of seven thousand dollars per man, woman, and children in the country. The burden of healthcare expenses are only increasing—which is why electronic healthcare is being turned to by more and more practitioners. Studies predict up to a 30 percent increase in efficiency by implementing electronic healthcare systems through reduction in unnecessary tests, prescriptions, paperwork, and medical mistakes. Below is a look at some of the figures regarding healthcare today:
- Medication errors affect over 1,000,000 patients annually and account for 10% of all hospitalizations.
- Medical errors kill 98,000 patients annually (7,000 of these due to medication errors alone).
- Common errors that could be easily detected by an EMR system increase the annual cost of health care by $30-$40 billion.
- Over 25% ($250 billion) of health care expenses are for administrative purposes.
- Individuals using other's health coverage cards (insurance, Medicaid, etc.) with or without their knowledge fraudulently claim billions of dollars in treatment annually.
- While the annual costs of implementing EHR systems are estimated at 7.7 billion dollars, the annual savings are approximated at 346 billion.
