Careers
Contact Us

Dublin Office

P: +353-1-440-2386

View more

Vitro Software Holdings DAC
    • Hospital & Health Solutions
      • How Vitro works - A different approach to Medical Records
      • Digital Medical Records - Hospitals & Healthcare
        • Acute
        • Mental & Behavioral Health
        • Breast Cancer Screening
      • Scanned Medical Record - Hospitals & Healthcare
    • Clients
    • News
      • Vitro News
      • Healthcare Resources (Insights & eBooks)
      • Videos
    • Vitro Software
      • About
      • Team
      • Awards
      • Giving Back
      • Careers
      • Contact
    • HOME

Vitro Software's eHealth Insights

eHealth Insights @ Vitro Software

 

RECEIVE INSIGHTS BY EMAIL

Enjoy Vitro Software's Insights series where we provide views, experiences and opinions from both our own specialist eHealth staff and guest contributors. We cover a range of topics such as; Clinical Information Systems (CIS), Electronic Medical Records (EMR), integration and interoperability, cloud hosting, change management, user adoption and more.

 

Authors

  • RSS [EasyDNNauthors:GroupName] Billy Diggin (7)
  • RSS [EasyDNNauthors:GroupName] Dominic Green (8)
  • RSS [EasyDNNauthors:GroupName] Guest Contributors (18)
  • RSS [EasyDNNauthors:GroupName] Jean Evans (3)
  • RSS [EasyDNNauthors:GroupName] Jeff Smoot (8)
  • RSS [EasyDNNauthors:GroupName] Jessica Broun (4)
  • RSS [EasyDNNauthors:GroupName] Mark Grant (3)
  • RSS [EasyDNNauthors:GroupName] Paul Mooney (2)
  • RSS [EasyDNNauthors:GroupName] Vitro Software (41)

Tags

eHealth (35) EMR/EPR (33) Paperless Hospital (17) Integration & Interoperability (15) Patient Care (7) Quality in Healthcare (6) HL7 (6) Clinical & Medical (5) Change & Adoption (5) NHS (4) Aged Care (4) Markets (4) Big Data (3) HIMSS (3) Healthcare Buying Cycle (3) FHIR (2) Operation Smile (2) Microsoft (2) Jobs & Careers (2) Healthcare in Ireland (2) Electronic Record Management (2) Clinical Administration (2) Nursing (2) Workflow (1) HSE (1) Andrea Rangel (1) Vitro (1) Patient Portal (1) Advance Care Planning (1) End-of-Life (1) MyNetCare (1) Digital Clinical Record (1) IT Governance (1) Clinical Data Management (1) Security & Data Breaches (1) Mental Health (1) Healthcare Apps (1) Digital Transformation (1) Healthcare IT eBook (1) EMR End Users (1) Clinicians (1) Clinical champions (1) Joe Peppard (1) Digital Health (1) Community Care (1) Marketing (1) Clients (1) Andrew Murphy (1) Healthcare Conference (1) Giving Back (1)
The Road to a Virtuous EMR - Episode I

Published on Tuesday, April 8, 2014

The Road to a Virtuous EMR - Episode I

Billy Diggin - Chief Technical Officer, Sláinte Healthcare

Episode I: Evolution of Medical Records – A view from the Trench

An account from a Dr’s perspective - Dr. C McClanahan (Forbes 2012 - www.forbes.com/sites/carolynmcclanahan/2012/02/21/the-medical-record-revolution).

The original purpose of the patient chart was to record and document the patient’s medical history. This was for two good reasons; firstly for the purposes of recall and secondly to share medical information with other healthcare professionals who care for the patient. These records or charts are usually completed and updated during the patient engagement, but can often be updated after the patient has finished their episode of care.

With an increase in medical malpractice litigation, the chart evolved to be about “proving the right things were done for the patient”. 

Then medical records evolved again, to document that enough was done to warrant the bill for the patient’s insurance. The more that was documented, the more that could be billed for, resulting in needless investigations or unnecessary referrals – clogging an already busy system.

If you were to liken this to a sporting game then the score line would be Patient/Doctor 2-2 Insurance/Legal. 

However, insurance companies have used the patients’ medical records to determine insurance cover and premiums for other insurance. So if the patient was over-analysed in the treatment phase and/or over-billed in the re-imbursement phase – it may lead to greater likelihoods of claims denial or higher premiums for the patient. The playing field is now moved to look more like Patient/Doctor 2-3 Insurance/Legal. 

Evolving to an electronic medical record does not change the purposes or uses of the data; electronic seeks to make the record better or more efficient to access. However, there are other benefits.

One of those is the research element – it should be faster to track illnesses and analyse how good various treatments for those illnesses are. There are, of course, issues, mostly related to coding (or rather mis-coding) which are linked to over-treatment or over-billing.

Another benefit is in Clinical Decision Support. Rote memorisation is potentially no longer required, there is potentially more time for the patient. There should be faster and better outcomes. Finally, there is the benefit to be gained from knowledge sharing. The British Medical Journal’s Best Practice is a good example.

The score now is potentially Patient/Doctor 5-3 Insurance/Legal but there is still a way to go to get the current 2-3 deficit reversed.

Billy Diggin -  Chief Technical Officer, Sláinte Healthcare

Billy joined Sláinte Healthcare in 2009 as Chief Operating Officer, where he has responsibility for day-to-day technical operations, new product development, and commercial assessment of new products and markets. Billy now holds the position of CTO, bringing over 20 years of experience in product and business development in electronics manufacturing and software automation. Billy was VP Engineering and VP Business Development for Xsil, Director of Software, Pentus Technologies. He has a Bachelor’s and Masters Degrees in Engineering from the University of Limerick, and a first class honours MBA from Smurfit Business School, UCD.

Comments (0)Number of views (7002)

Author: Billy Diggin

Categories: Insights

Tags: eHealth , EMR/EPR

Print

Theme picker

About Us
Vitro Software is a leading international technology company that provide software & services that drive efficiencies and quality for hospitals and healthcare organisations.

Its revolutionary software Vitro enables healthcare providers to move from paper processes to electronic processes while maintaining their original look and feel.
Recent News
  • Vitro Software collaborates with Compact Systems, Australia’s Leading Electronic Medication Management System provider

    23 Jan 2025
  • Wandi Nerida Live With Digital Medical Record

    1 Oct 2024
  • Exhibiting at the Australasian College of Emergency Medicine (ACEM) Annual Scientific Meeting 2024

    20 Sep 2024

Theme picker

Contact Us
CAPTCHA image
Enter the code shown above in the box below.
  • Submit
  • Cancel
Copyright © Vitro Software Holdings DAC. All rights reserved.

follow social icon :