Assignment: Meaningful Use Paper
The use of healthcare technologies has significantly transformed healthcare in the modern world. Healthcare technologies such as electronic records have proven effective in enhancing the safety, quality and efficiency of patient care. Since the implementation of the Meaningful use, healthcare organizations constantly explore the ways in which they can utilize healthcare technologies to achieve their desired competitive edge in their markets. The implementation of meaningful use is however associated with a number of issues that have impeded its success. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to explore the legal, financial, and ethical issues in the implementation of the meaningful use and ways in which they act as barriers in the implementation process. It also explores ways in which health organizations can make the most of their health records investments and implementation process of the meaningful use legislation in my organization.
Legal, Financial and Ethical Issues
The implementation of the meaningful use legislation may be associated with a number of legal, ethical and financial issues. One of the legal issues that may be experienced with the implementation of the meaningful use is the lack of legal framework to guide the implementation process. Accordingly, states have not created a sound legal framework to guide the implementation and adoption of new technologies in healthcare. Healthcare institutions lack a legal system to guide them in navigating the system and process transition from the paper-based systems to the use of electronic health records. States have also failed to provide the legal frameworks to address issues related to the provider responsibility in reviewing healthcare data in the integrated electronic health records (Mello et al., 2018). There is also the legal concern that the implementation of the meaningful use legislation is likely to increase provider accountability and responsibility. The increased use of electronic records is projected to increase legal cases due to ineffective use of technologies in patient care, hence, placing more pressure on the healthcare providers when compared to the previous use of paper-based systems (Entzeridou et al., 2018).
The implementation of the meaningful use legislation may also lead to a number of ethical issues in healthcare. Firstly, it may raise concerns on the ownership of the protected healthcare information as well as the responsibility of the healthcare providers in preventing and informing patients on issues such as privacy breaches (Ntoutsi et al., 2020). The implementation also raises concerns about the confidentiality and privacy of the patients’ data. In this case, patients are increasingly worried that electronic health records vendors may engage in unlawful practices such as selling the copies of their databases to marketing and research companies. The increased use of electronic health records predisposes health organizations to adverse events such as security breaches and unauthorized access to data (Hand, 2018). As a result, health organizations are legally predisposed to adverse outcomes should breaches in security of data occur, worsening the complexities associated with the adoption of the meaningful use.
The implementation of the meaningful use legislation may also lead to a number of financial issues. One of them is the entity that will be responsible for paying the costs incurred in the implementation of health integrated systems as well as electronic health records. The existing evidence shows that healthcare payers benefit the most from the implementation of the meaningful use when compared to healthcare institutions and financiers of meaningful use (Keshta & Odeh, 2021). The implementation of the legislations may also decline the productivity of the healthcare institutions. For instance, statistics estimates show that full implementation may lead to up to 10% decline in organizational productivity (Mello et al., 2018). Therefore, the financial implications of implementing the meaningful use may hinder the whole process in healthcare institutions.
How Issues may Present Barriers to Successful Implementation
The ethical, financial and legal issues associated with the implementation of the meaningful use may act as barriers for the successful implementation process. Accordingly, the lack of sound legal frameworks to guide the implementation of the meaningful use may impede the implementation of systems such as integrated health records for coordinating care. The lack of a formal legal framework implies that health organizations and providers are likely to be held liable for any adverse
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