The Aging Population and Home Health.
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Currently, the elderly population is growing at a moderate pace. However, the growth will become rapid sooner than we think.
Let's put some numbers into perspective. Someone turns 50 every 8 seconds. Each year, more than 3.5 million boomers turn 55. In addition, by 2030, 20% of U.S. residents will be 65 and older. Moreover, the 85+ population is projected to increase from 4.2 million in 2000 to 6.6 million in 2020. The increasing rate of the aging population affect healthcare. 90 percent of the aging population prefers to remain in their home while adapting to a change in health status or recovering from an illness. Patients and their families can seek home health services that can provide supportive care in the comfort of their own home. The delivery of patient care through home health services can be improved through a transition to electronic health records.
Let's put some numbers into perspective. Someone turns 50 every 8 seconds. Each year, more than 3.5 million boomers turn 55. In addition, by 2030, 20% of U.S. residents will be 65 and older. Moreover, the 85+ population is projected to increase from 4.2 million in 2000 to 6.6 million in 2020. The increasing rate of the aging population affect healthcare. 90 percent of the aging population prefers to remain in their home while adapting to a change in health status or recovering from an illness. Patients and their families can seek home health services that can provide supportive care in the comfort of their own home. The delivery of patient care through home health services can be improved through a transition to electronic health records.
What is currently being used to chart patients' health information?
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Does this picture look familiar? Manual, paper charting is widely being used in the home health industry. Paper charting doesn't offer great strategies to manage patient care and is not sufficient enough to improve the workflow of the staff. Disadvantages of paper charting include:
- The costs associated with the excess staff needed to manage these medical records are wasteful.
- Paper charts hinder practice growth
- Physicians can't see more patients without lengthening their work hours/
- Slow responsiveness to primary care physicians limits referral volume.
- Prescriptions are not consistently documented
- Medical decisions are often made without complete clinical information
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Paper records pose as a big problem in the home care setting. They are untimely, unlegible, source of coordination. Furthermore, paper records also provide a lack of accessibility by allowing providers to only access patient records one at a time in one designated location. Through the implementation of electronic health records (EHRs), the solution to these problems can be easily solved.