Trends in Health Information Technology Research Paper

Trends in Health Information Technology - Research Paper Example It is observed that British Columbia Ministry of Health (BC MoH) possesses the comprehensive responsibility for ascertaining that suitable, cost effective, quality as well as opportune health related services are accessible to all the residents of British Columbia. In order ensure such effective services the Ministry of Health (MoH) requires quality support from advanced technology based systems such as HIS. In this regard, as a consultant, it can be advised to the MoH to follow the trends of electronic medical records (EMRs) and subsequently incorporate to ensure a sustainable and progressive future for the service provider. In this process of bringing in change for introducing EMR, the aspect of stable leadership from the part of MoH is crucial to succeed by a considerable extent (Ministry of Health, 2011). A Review of BC MoH Strategic Plan The health related system prevailing in British Columbia entails a composite network of organizations, professionals and groups that function t ogether to ensure valuable service for the commoners and most importantly for the patients. In the process of ensuring service of utmost quality, the health system faces critical challenges regarding offering sustainable health system in sync with the rising demand. Moreover, ascertaining that different elements of the society as well as the entire population are able to access the services related to health is also a crucial challenge for MoH. Furthermore, aging population, increasing burden of diverse chronic diseases, advancements in pharmaceuticals as well as technology aspects along with development of human system infrastructure and human resources are among the major considerations in the strategic plan BC MoH. BC MoH also aims to fulfill certain major goals which include optimizing information management and providing people of British Columbia access to superior quality services in each hospital among others. In this regard, in order to meet these varied kinds of challenges and goals efficiently the use of health information systems technology can be observed as a major beneficial facet (Ministry of Health, 2011). Recommendation on EMR Adoption By considering above depicted aims and objectives of BC MoH, it can be advised that the use of EMR can be an invaluable proposition. It will significantly enable to ensure information management of the entire population of BC. Moreover, as it is recognized that determining the amount of aging population is a critical challenge for MoH, the advent of full-fledged use of EMR would enable the MoH to have a thorough access of major patient related data efficiently. EMR adoption can be recommended for MoH due to various other benefits derived from EMR. Primarily, a collection of financial, operational and clinical benefits can be obtained by healthcare professional through EMR. EMR enables to make efficient the entire operational workflow (Landon, n.d.). In terms of financial benefits, through the use of EMR precise coding of the condition of a patient can be made which in turn can facilitate to prepare appropriate billing and augment patient throughput. Moreover, patient related data can be viewed comprehensively by using EMR due to greater exchange of information by