Electronic Referral Management System for outpatient services - Essay Example

This is due to many factors such as poor timing, lack of significant information and lost paperwork. The Accountable Care Act is focusing on quality care in all health care organizations. The need for coordination of healthcare across the continuum has been identified as a major challenge. The integration of an electronic referral management system within an electronic health record is a potential solution to help break down the barriers of a fragmented referral system that has negatively affected health care delivery. Although there has been identification of the need for improvement in the coordination of referral management, there is a marked lack of knowledge regarding which elements should be targeted for improvement (Hysong et al., 2011). A literature review of business management may assist in the operational aspects of the project and gain new knowledge on a more effective coordination of the referral process. The use of the electronic health record within the e-referral system will provide easier access to all the essential information needed to manage an efficient referral system. Coordinating a team of stakeholders to analyze the significant information that is essential to create a successful referral management system will prove valuable. Transitioning patient care across the continuum effectively should be one of the major goals for healthcare organizations to assure quality care and patient safety. Improving the referral system will enhance access to evidenced-based healthcare, reduce readmissions and improve the patient outcomes after a hospitalization. The development of an electronic referral management system should further increase the referral rates from inpatient to outpatient services. Problem Statement Healthcare organizations have a fragmented and inefficient communication system to transition patients from the primary to secondary care setting. The purpose of this research effort is to illustrate the effectiveness of an electronic referral management system within an electronic health record and demonstrate effective transition of care to optimize patient outcomes. Research Questions How can the implementation of an electronic health care referral management system improve patient outcomes after hospitalization? Why is it important to invest in IT resources to implement an electronic referral management system in healthcare organizations? How are patients' outcomes to be measured. Some objective criteria needs to be used to determine if an electronic health care referral management system is effective or not. There are several ways to measure it but a lower re-referral or re-admission rate is the best indicator with regards to the effectiveness of the new system as proposed in this paper. How to maximize resources and operate under constraint. Healthcare organizations are under increasing financial pressure to cut costs or keep expenses down and additional items for the budget like investing in IT resources have to be justified by the management. Investments in IT help an organization to keep up with the deluge of patient data and manage it in an orderly manner that will allow management and health care staff to keep track of essential information. Rationale The ... Read More