Analysis Of Electronic Health Records (EHR) And Doctors’ Practices In Australia

Executive Summary

The organization selected for the report is EPIC or Electronic Portfolio of International Credentials (EPIC | Australian Medical Council Instructions, 2017). The organization had been largely influencing the development of the elementary operations for the provision of the smart operation and modeling schemes. The deployment of the EHR practice had deployed for the modification of the data and information processing. The physician had been deployed for the modification of the existing technology in the formation of the existing technological development. There are some major modification of the information processing and development for assisting the doctors and patients. EHR stands for the electronic health records that had been developed for the assistance of the patients and the doctors (Friedberg et al., 2014). EHR works on an independent platform for forming the development of the database for accessing and linking the data base with internet platform for accessing the information from the hard end users. The deployment of the active users and control had been helpful for the development of the faster searching of the information from the database. The development of the effective and smart database management system had been deployed for the modification of the searching control for the users of the database website.

The EPIC or Electronic Portfolio of International Credentials is the electronic web based vendor selected for the analysis of the EHR practices and development of the effective and smart data calculation system (EPIC | How EPIC Works, (2017). The EPIC had been providing support to the verification of the medical credentials of the physicians and medical educations. The information regarding the practices, certification, training, and license of the doctors is analyzed, verified and after that posted in the database. The patients can access the required information regarding any physician from the website and it would allow them for easing the access to the required services of treatment.

The report had considered the organization of EPIC or Electronic Portfolio of International Credentials for forming an analysis of the importance of EHR. EHR stands for the electronic health records that had been developed for the assistance of the patients and the doctors and it is an independent platform that stores the database for accessing and linking the data base with internet platform. The EPIC or Electronic Portfolio of International Credentials is the electronic web based vendor selected for the analysis of the EHR practices and development of the effective and smart data calculation system. The issues that the patients face before implementation of the EHR are unable to access information and lack of right treatment information. The implementation of the EHR in the organization had resulted in bringing the activities of the development process for functioning in the development model for the organization.

The report had highlighted three major methods in capital budgeting that could be followed for evaluating the investment and validating the profitability of the investment made in implementing EHR in the organization and they are NPV or Net Present Value, IRR or Interest Return Rate, and Payback Period. The organization had got financial benefit by getting the revenues from the various customers (patients and doctors) and the non-financial benefits of implementing the EHR in the organization are accuracy, ease of operation, and speed. The risk factors that the implementation of EHR has to face are system failure risk and security risk. The development of the EHR in the organizations had been for implementing the appropriate monitoring and sequencing methods. The impact of the new system implemented in the organization had been evaluated in the report as compliance with the information and data, faster and improved operations, and patient’s data assistance.

Key Recommendations

The project is about the implementation of the EHR vendor in the development of the operations of the patient’s treatment and the selection of appropriate doctor for the operations (Orlich et al., 2013). The development of the effective database is helpful for the modification of the ongoing facilities of the data selection and development of the vendors. EPIC had been using the appropriate modulation of the technological development for the activation of the ongoing facilities of the organization. The implementation of the EHR data system had to face many factors of risk such as data theft, flaws in design, and network infiltration. These issues would lead to the effective downfall of the system integration and development of the smart objectives. Some key recommendations for improvement of the EHR in the operations of medical support are given below,

1. Appropriate Design Implementation: The appropriate design of the database for the EHR is helpful for the forming the analysis of the designing requirements (Palvia, Jacks & Brown, 2015). The designing flaws would result in forming the unsuccessful operations of the design. The designing flaw had resulted in the formation of uncontrollable function for forming havoc in the operation of the organization. The appropriate design implementation needs to be done for carrying out the development of the EHR for the support to the patient’s treatment. The appropriate design implementation can be followed by using various models like,

A1. Waterfall model- The waterfall model is an adaptive type of the development model for the incrementing of the facilities for the faster and appropriate deployment of any software or program (Ratanawongsa et al., 2016). The EHR model had been made for forming a more developed and synched model for improving the facilities of the step by step development of the design and its implementation. The implementation model is helpful for the backtracking of the development system to form the effective and smart operations.

A2. Agile Model- The agile model is a predictive model approach for the development of any software and programming design (Tanner et al., 2015). The agile methodology is helpful for breaking the large activities into simple and basic operations for assisting the development of the appropriate technology in the development of the system. The model for the development of the EHR can be deployed by the use of agile model methodology. The Agile Methodology consists of the proper analysis of the individual processes of implementation model.

1. Security System: The major issue of implementation of the EHR is the various security flaws and problems that the users have to face while storing their information on an Internet based platform (Craven et al., 2014). The various methods of hacking and the activities of cyber criminals had been largely influencing the storage of the data and information in the cloud network. Hence, the deployment of a proper and tightened security measure would be helpful for the privacy of the data and information keeping the integrity of the users intact. The various measures for keeping the security of the EHR are given below,

B1. Encryption- Encryption is a measure for keeping the data and information in an encoded format for developing the security of the data (Schumaker & Reganti, 2014). The various data and information would be stored by using coding methods (Linear coding, Hoffman’s coding, and many more). The coded data and information would not be easy to understand or decipher. The hackers of cyber criminals would not be able to understand the encoded data and information by using the hacking methods. It is the most widely used method for keeping the integrity of the data even if it is accessed from outside.

B2. Authentication- It is a method of forming the proper security for access in the database (Noblin et al., 2013). The authorized user can get the access of the database for using the data for their use. The authentic users could use the passphrase and passkeys for forming the access to the main database. The authentication would be made evitable for forming the analysis of the proper measures of the user data and information. The development of the authentication process had deployed for the limitation of the existing system.

B3. Intrusion Detection- The intrusion detection is helpful for forming the security of the information system database for the operations of the EHR database (Wiggins & Fridl, 2016). The intrusion detection works in a simple way. The intrusion detection comes in pair with intrusion prevention. The intrusion prevention and detection would be helpful for forming the vigilance of the network operations. The detection detects any activity from unknown source and provokes the action of the prevention. The intrusion prevention would allow the network for being immediately shut down in the network profoundly.

The operations of the data verification had been done for the modification of the database for the allowance of the strategic context of the business operations. The EHR activities of the EPIC are for the evaluation of the existing operations and development of the doctor’s related information and data verification (Bullard, 2016). The doctor and patient’s who had been largely influenced by the deployment of the effective and smart deployment of the database would be highly responsible for forming the effective and smart reasoning for the access. The issues that the patients face before implementation of the EHR are,

1. Unable to access information: The patients who need proper treatment and healthcare services would not be able to access the required information in the absence of the EHR. The EHR would act as the prior database for forming the appropriate information of the doctor’s information.
2. Lack of right treatment information: The patients suffering from emergency conditions would be able track the appropriate doctor for treatment and support. The absence of right information would result in catastrophically hurting the operations of the treatment facilities.

The information processing in the current state of the information processing had been slacking due to the absence of the proper database development process (Sengupta, 2015). The information processing would be highly required for assisting the patients with support and guidance for forming the effective and smart development of the operations.

The implementation of the EHR in the organization would result in bringing the activities of the development process for functioning in the development model for the organization (Joukes et al., 2015). The implemented model would help in easing the flow of the information processing the development of the smart actions for the organizational processing. The patients would be able to easily get the access into the main database for getting the required information regarding the doctor’s information like credentials, expertise, and authentication.

The use of waterfall model would be helpful for developing the faster and scalable data processing. The development of the waterfall model would be deployed for the modification of the existing information processing and development of smart processes in the organization (Sonnad, 2014). The waterfall model would be helpful for deploying the effective and smart technology in the organization. The more effective and smart operation would be helpful for the development of the organization. The impediment modification of the operations had been largely influenced for the formation of the effective and smart development of the operations. The development of the strategic management had been largely helpful for forming the effective implementation of the EHR system.

The implementation of EHR would be based on the attention and investment of the people and investors from the organization. The investment analysis had been done in the following points,

The investment is the key factor that enables the extent of the development of the project operations and functions (Houston-Raasikh, 2014). The implementation of the information system would be based on the formation of the effective and smart methods of implementation model. The investment evaluation can be done by using capital budgeting methods. There are three major methods in capital budgeting that could be followed for evaluating the investment and validating the profitability of the investment made in implementing EHR in the organization. They are,

1. NPV or Net Present Value: NPV is the function of the calculation of the appropriate cash flow of the organization (Amoah et al., 2015). The development of the NPV would be highly helpful for evacuating the summation of the overall cash flows and forming a summarization on whether the project would be benefit for the organization. In NPV all the positive and negative cash flows would be evaluated for analyzing whether the expenses or the incomes from the project is more convenient and appropriate. The NPV is calculated for finding the expense at one side of the column and income at the other side of column.
2. IRR or Interest Return Rate: The IRR stands for interest return rate and it helps in calculating the return rate of the interest (Regan & Wang, 2016). The return rate is helpful for calculating the cash flow data and the interest received from the cash data. The IRR is a percentage value that is used for the cash expense. The IRR is calculated when the total income for a specific number of years is nullified by the sum of total expense and the interests on the investment for the specific number of years. The rate of interest is termed as the IRR for the investment done, with that amount of expenses, and for the time period.
3. Payback Period: Payback Period is simply a calculation of the amount of time required for overcoming the investments and total expense at a specific interest rate (Miller et al., 2015). The calculation of Payback Period is done while considering the NPV is zero. The time (in years) can be termed as the payback period. The latter years would be the years when the project would start to provide profit to the users.

The financial benefits of implementing the EHR system in the organization of the doctor patients record keeping (Jamoom et al., 2014). The implementing of the system would result in gaining financial benefit for the organization. The total cost of creating an EPIC account, submitting a credential, calling for courier service and requesting the reports of verification is $180 (in the country) and $195 (outside the country).  The organization would get the financial benefit by getting the revenues from the various customers (patients and doctors).

According to Hernandez-Boussard et al. (2014), the non-financial benefits of implementing the EHR in the organization are,

1. Accuracy: Patients would get authenticated data and information regarding the doctor’s affiliation and the certification. The appropriate data would be helpful for forming the smart control of operations and functions for the patients that require authenticate information.
2. Ease of operation: The development of single database for the EHR would help in developing the faster and development of the important influencing development of the organization. The new system would be deployed for easing the operation of the searching and sorting the data processing.
3. Speed: The use of technology and system would employ the faster and scalable data management system. It would help in developing the faster and more efficient development of the operations.

The implementation of the EHR had been largely helpful for considering the development of the operations and functions. However, there are certain factors that had resulted in forming the hindrance in the development of the accurate system for development of the information. The risk factors are explained below,

1. System Failure Risk: The designing flaws would result in forming the unsuccessful operations of the design (Corser & Yuan, 2016). The designing flaw had resulted in the formation of uncontrollable function for forming havoc in the operation of the organization. The appropriate design implementation needs to be done for carrying out the development of the EHR for the support to the patient’s treatment.
2. Security Risk: The major issue of implementation of the EHR is the various security flaws and problems that the users have to face while storing their information on an Internet based platform (Gross et al., 2016). The various methods of hacking and the activities of cyber criminals had been largely influencing the storage of the data and information in the cloud network.

Risk Register
Project Name:	EHR in Doctor’s Practice
Ref. No.	Risk Factor	Risk Description	Risk Cause	Risk Likelihood	Consequences	Risk Impact	Risk Ranking
#REF001	Delay in Data Access	There are possibilities that the data access in the EHR system could be delayed causing the issue of the being unable to access the data and information	Delay in data access is caused due to any issue such as technical flaw, design issue or system not working.	Likely	Insignificant	Low	5
#REF002	Data Theft	External infiltration in the EHR system would result in the development of the data theft issue for the system	Security flaw would result in forming the security breaches for the EHR practices in the doctor’s practice	Possible	Critical	High	2
#REF003	System Incompatible	The EHR system would not run affluently and would result in some minor glitches for the occurrence.	The EHR practice would tend to cause the issue in the compatibility of the system modification and development. The major component of the system might fail to act	Unlikely	Moderate	Medium	4
#REF004	Network Error	The system would not work properly for developing the connection between the Internet Source and System	The connectivity issue would tend to the develop the formal compatibility issues of the EHR organization and development	Almost certain	Major	Extreme	1
#REF005	Equipment Failure	The tools and devices used for the processes of the EHR implementation could fail and lag due to any issue in the components	Equipment failure is caused due to the issue of the existing technological errors and flaws in the EHR system developed. The users would not be able to use the features of the EHR practices due to malfunctioning of any device required	Likely	Major	High	3

The development of the EHR in the organizations had been for implementing the appropriate monitoring and sequencing methods. The impact of the new system implemented in the organization are explained below,

Compliance with the information and data: The system developed would be helpful for forming the more effective modification of the information and data compliance for the development of the functions (Melkus et al., 2013). The implemented system would help in easing the flow of the information processing the development of the smart actions for the organizational processing. The patients would be able to easily get the access into the main database for getting the required information regarding the doctor’s information like credentials, expertise, and authentication.

Faster and Improved operations: The development of single database for the EHR would help in developing the faster and development of the important influencing development of the organization (Yuan, Bradley & Nembhard, 2015). The new system would be deployed for easing the operation of the searching and sorting the data processing. The use of technology and system would employ the faster and scalable data management system. It would help in developing the faster and more efficient development of the operations.

Patient’s Data Assistance: Patients would get authenticated data and information regarding the doctor’s affiliation and the certification (Flatow et al., 2015). The appropriate data would be helpful for forming the smart control of operations and functions for the patients that require authenticate information. The new system would be deployed for easing the operation of the searching and sorting the data processing. It would help in developing the faster and more efficient development of the operations.

The absence of implementing the new EHR for the development of the searching and sorting functions are given below,

1. Non access of information: The patients who need proper treatment and healthcare services would not be able to access the required information in the absence of the EHR. The patients would not be able to develop the appropriate development of the operations and functions.
2. Mishap in Emergency situations: The patients suffering from emergency conditions would be able track the appropriate doctor for treatment and support. The absence of right information would result in catastrophically hurting the operations of the treatment facilities.

The development of the EHR system would be helpful for forming the appropriate improvement of the operations and development of the smarter operations in the organization. The benefits of realizing the EHR system for the healthcare operation are listed below,

Project Governance and oversight: The organization had been using the appropriate model for the development of the governance features (Gross et al., 2016). The system developed is an EHR that compliance the activities of the smarter and more effective development of system compliance. The governance of the project had been caused for forming the appropriate development of the system modulation and interim measurement.

Risk Management: The management of the factors of risk is being targeted for the development of the factors of risk and forming the compliance of the effective and smart development of the risk management theories (Wang & Moczygemba, 2015). The risk management is done for forming an analysis of the risk factors, evaluation of their impact on the operations, developing appropriate strategies for mitigating risks, implementing the developed strategies, and monitoring their impact.

Target Measures: The target measures for the implementation of the risk measures are for forming an appropriate modulation of the system developed and forming a steady compliance for the modulation of the effective and smart measures of the system development (Jamoom et al., 2014). The measures of the target are being compliance for forming the development of the module for the operations of EHR implementation.

The limitations of the implementation of the EHR in the development of the faster and scalable data management of operations and functions would be helpful for the smart data management. There are certain limitation of the implementing the EHR in the organization,

1. EHR allows the users for evaluating the data present in the database for forming the appropriate results of the inbuilt data. However, it does not account for the information feeding accuracy of the users.
2. EHR does not provide scope for the ensuring the systematic audits of the data inputted and submitted by the users
3. EHR allows the doctors for changing the data as it is potentially available in form of pending for extended period time
4. EHR is especially vulnerable to technical and system flaws and it would allow the users for the forming changes as per need.

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