Patients are being being excluded from the process!

Being a contract nurse working in the Phoenix Metro area for almost 20 years I have been in every EMR system in the valley including state, federal and private hospitals and clinics. The focus needs to be on integrating the HIT, EMR and PHR of the system to function in tandem. Each arm of the system must be used as applied by design and integrated into the overall structures and functions HIT. Focusing only on the providers’ access to HIT is like the mouth trying to feed the hand. In most cases if not all that I have seen out there is that the cart has been placed before the horse. The patient is ultimately the one being served. HIT needs to reach out to those who are ultimately driving the economic vehicle for the industry. Without the patient there is no economy to drive health care services including EMR systems. The best design application will integrate the PHR and the EMR into a singular concept. The concept of HIT will only reach its full potential when the integration and synchronization of the EMR and PHR arms of  HIT is achieved under the HIT umbrella. Health care providers and their patients will continue to get wet under the rain of this technology until this integration is applied. The concept of HIT will never be fully actualized until the patient is brought into the mix as an active participant in creating solutions to the problems health care providers face in today’s EMR systems. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it. In my next blog I will show health care providers how to make money with their EMR. So stay tuned.