Using an EHR system is possible and effective in healthcare facilities due to the following reasons; better patient care delivery, increased efficiency, and technology data availability. Yet, the implementation of Electronic Health Records systems has its issues and risks Both, the adoption and integration of such systems are challenging. These challenges can however depend on whether the healthcare facility is big or small and the type of healthcare facility; nevertheless, there are general problems that last throughout the healthcare sector. The main goal of this article is to discuss the key issues of Electronic Health Records systems implementation in the facilities of healthcare.
1. Cost and Budget Constraints
Lack of adequate funding appears to be one of the leading challenges to the adoption of EHR solutions. Small healthcare practices or even rural hospitals are usually constrained by high costs when it comes to acquiring EHR systems. Implementation costs for EHR technology include the actual license of the EHR system software, alongside the necessary computer hardware upgrade, which is used in integrating and enclosing the hardware with the present infrastructure, as well as the recurring final costs of Electronic Health Records system maintenance.
While they do save paperwork, generate efficiency, and ultimately deliver improved patient care, the total costs of implementing EHRs can be high in the context of an individual or a small practice. Moreover, expenses required to educate healthcare personnel concerning the system usage and its maintenance along with several other revisions will be an added cost factor that may burden the company’s financial resources There are times when many healthcare organizations face challenges on how to implement effective technology solutions while being cost-effective.
2. User Adoption and Training
The staff in the health facilities that hope to benefit from an implemented EHR system must be a willing participant in the course of implementing the system. The major challenge, however, is the unwillingness of many staff members to engage in the change they perceive as coming from the healthcare organization to use a new technology they fear will alter their flow of work or with which they are just uncomfortable using. Changing resistance is a problem that is present in any line of business, and healthcare is not an exception.
I realize that it is essential that we train healthcare providers to use the new system appropriately for adoption to occur. Refresher training sessions have to include not only explanations of basic system operations but also of the inevitable problems like data entry errors, system-coupled processes, and problem-solving. However, the time it takes to effectively train one’s personnel often affects the productivity of the firm, organization, or business. A lot of providers are already overwhelmed and taking time from patient care to run training sessions can lead to disgruntlement and resistance.
Also, some of the healthcare workers have inadequate perceived computer self-efficacy, this is especially true with elderly employees. Some of these health facilities may not have experience in using systems, especially those that can provide EHR, and may therefore encounter organizational issues that hinder implementation of the system. This summed up with cultural generation disparities, can worsen resistance to EHR adoption even further.
3. Interoperability Challenges
One major concern that has arisen when utilizing Electronic Health Records is Interoperability or the ability of individuals’s EHR and other healthcare-related systems to interface with one another. Most healthcare institutions embrace different systems, and such systems might not interrelate. Therefore, patient information may be stored locally within one healthcare center, and inter-hospital, specialist, laboratory, or pharmacy information exchange may not be smooth.
These attributes result in wasted time, potential for error, and worse of all, disjointed patient care. For instance, if a given patient visits different specialists who have different EHR platforms, that patient’s records may not be available to those providers and can lead to undue tests and diagnostic procedures, misunderstandings, and even drug interactions.
The categorization of classification systems according to some predefined format and ways to enhance compatibility have been under process for several years now and there have not been significant advancements made in this domain. This is because the exchange of data and information between two or more different systems is a major bottleneck in healthcare organizations.
4. Data Security and Privacy Concerns
Specifically, EHR systems encompass patients’ personal health information, and, for this reason, are attractive to hackers. The loss or compromise of patient records is particularly dangerous for patients, and damaging to healthcare organizations. While the majority of EHRs are progressing in the journey toward digitization and connectivity of EHRs to the internet, threat actors in the form of hackers or perpetrators of ransomware are also on the prowl.
This means that healthcare professionals have to dedicate time and resources to developing a strong security system in light of the increasing use of technology in patient information. These are in the form of data encryption, use of multiple factors authentication, and timely updating of software to fill up security gaps. Also, legal and regulations need to be followed for instance the US Lawyer Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act policy has guidelines on data protection.
BHowevermaintaining its confidentiality and security is one of the biggest concerns to date. The risks within cyberspace are constantly changing, and therefore healthcare organizations need to make changes to protect patient data as well. If the data belonging to the patient is not protected then it puts the patient in harm’s way; it negatively affects the organization and might result in heavy litigation charges.
5. Workflow Disruption
The implementation of a new EHR system causes workflow interferences in healthcare facilities. Before the start of using Electronic Health Records, the records that healthcare providers used were paper-based, and were put in orders that suited the practice. People can operate on paper-based systems for many years, as soon as computer-based systems are implemented changes might be required in how data flows throughout the organization.
For instance, the following physicians who in the past wrote notes by hand or used paper charts may experience difficulty in entering data into the EHR during the visit. Commitment to entering patient data into the system may take most of the time needed in treating the patient which results in longer waiting time and less face time. Along the same line, the administrative staff may experience some problems in having to adapt to changes in scheduling or billing system, thus making the system very ineffective and prone to mistakes.
Unfortunately, there are consequential interruptions that can only be avoided if the management of the healthcare facility takes time to properly plan the implementation process and ensure that enough time is afforded to the staff needed for acclimatization. This implies that workflow redesign and change management initiatives have to be an element of the implementation plan so that existing practices can embrace the system.
6. Technical Support and Maintenance
One of the concerns of several healthcare facilities implementing EHR systems is the continuous maintenance and technical support. EHR software is not easy to manage, and there are always technological hitches, big and small, which may include system crashes and slow performance among others. Concerning these problems, healthcare organizations require a responsible IT department or outsourcing service to resolve them on time.
Further, EHR systems are amenable to change now and then in response to new legislation, enhanced functionality, and bug corrections. These updates can be very time-consuming and may also pose the need for other training for the staff to conform to some new appearances. Healthcare organizations have to consider all these continuous and constantly recurrent technical requirements to be able to maintain a system that will not easily break down.
7. Data Entry and Accuracy
EHR systems depend on proper data input and therefore any mistake that happens in this process has dreadful implications. It is common that the data is typed in wrong ways by healthcare workers because of some mistakes or the system is not easily understandable to them. These mistakes can cause wrong diagnosis, wrong prescription of medication, or even wrong timing in treating the patients, this hurts the patients.
Data input to EHR systems should therefore be accurate. A few of them include decision support tools that give out error messages such as drug interaction and allergies to the user. Nevertheless, the usage of these tools may cause an undesired densification of reliance on them and the control of the system’s operation still requires constant manual checks.
Furthermore, in relation to outliers, data entry can be overwhelmin,g, particularly for healthcare providers. For example, operations like typing patient history or his / her demographic details may become monotonous and a nurse may develop negligence towards their accuracy over time. These challenges can only be dealt with effectively if Healthcare organizations ensure they have a good workflow and adopt easy-to-use systems that will enable them to avoid errors.
8. Regulatory and Compliance Issues
Before EHR systems implementation, there are inevitably extensive regulatory requirements that healthcare facilities have to manage. Local government recommendations of rules are essential in safeguarding the privacy of the patient, and the legal utilization of health information, for reference; HIPAA in the United States. Non-compliance with these regulations causes massive penalties, legal consequences,s and reputational losses for healthcare providers.
Moreover, there might be requirements for functions or meanings included in the EHR systems which are changing over time; as a consequence the Electronic Health Records software might have to be updated or the workflow adaption to the new requirements has to be done. This means that healthcare organizations are responsible for the ongoing changes in the regulations and the position of EHR in these change processes. This constant exercise is therefore tiresome and may need several resources.
9. Resistance to Change
It may be similar to an attitude where they just do not understand the benefits of having EHR systems or they may not want to work with a system that would add to their daily workload. A part of physicians and healthcare workers may have been used to the manual system of documentation and may see EHRs as an imposition. Changing this resistance calls for good management and strong leadership besides availing proof of the value of the system to the systems users.
Here it could be stated that getting the staff involved in decisions connected with the implementation process can also reduce staff resistance. Facility support systems such as mass media, posters, and emails can also be used to encourage healthcare workers to adopt the new system of working and learning new ways through an organizational reward system.
10. Data Overload
Despite the potential of EHR systems in the improvement of access to patient data, EHR systems consequent contain data proliferation. When EHRS has been adopted to collect large amounts of data, many healthcare givers can become overwhelmed with large amounts of data that may not be sorted well.
This abundance of information may result in decision overload that involves decision-makers failing to assess which specific information is relevant to patient care. Viable systems can also hinder efficient work output because users have to wade through lengthy documents. To address this challenge, the data has to be filtered and organized most of this has to be achieved by creating tools that are friendly to users in healthcare organizations.
Conclusion
The conversion to Electronic Health Records systems in a healthcare setting is a process that is not easy and may demand capital-intensive formation as well as changes. The issues associated with the process – cost, usage, compatibility, security, disruption of work, and legal matters – can be impressive, but they are not insurmountable. When these problems are identified, and anticipated early, and all stakeholders are engaged in the process of implementing change, healthcare organizations are in a position to adopt EHR systems that can greatly improve the quality of patient care delivered, organizational effectiveness, and compliance with legal requirements. So, despite certain problems that can be observed, the advantages of Electronic Health Records systems allow using this tool in modern health care to achieve long-term results.
Irene Joshi 
My Omnia