Major Issues in Adoption of Electronic Health Records
Myongho Yi
Journal of Digital Information Management, Vol. 16, No. 4, 2018.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.6025/jdim/2018/4/180-191
Link: http://dline.info/fpaper/jdim/v16i4/jdimv16i4_3.pdf
Abstract:
Backgrounds: The use of Electronic
Health Records (EHRs) is not new, but the
implementation and provision of their services are. Despite the positive aspects and promising features of EHRs use in medical and healthcare practices, there
are many issues that need to be identified and
addressed to expedite the adoption rate of EHRs. The
objective of the study is to examine major issues which
hinder EHR adoption and to present identified solutions.
Methods: Thirty-two staff members from five hospitals
were surveyed in order to find common problems and
obstacles/issues encountered when adopting EHRs.
Members of hospital staff were also interviewed in order to pinpoint the possible problems and solutions that management staff of hospitals may encounter. Results: The study identified possible solutions to the four major issues in EHR implementation: 1) implement
ontology to ensure interoperability to share medical records among organizations, 2) provide physical, technical and managerial security controls to provide secure access for EHRs, 3) ensure business continuity of uninterrupted access to EHRs using cloud-based EHRs, 4) minimize the digital divide by providing training
to users and staff.
Conclusions: Consideration of these four major issues indicated in this study will expedite hospitals and various healthcare organizations to implement and provide EHRs.