With an objective to close the incessant gap that exists with ethnic as well as radical disparities of health, tools of health information technology are now embarking on a diverse and bigger dimension. Speaking on the same note, we now have smartphone apps helping medical professionals embark on successful strategies to achieve the very best of healthcare services. American President Barack Obama led Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act of 2009 came into force with the very same objective where the chief focus was to greatly reduce the various health services disparities majorly dealing with cases where the patients suffered from chronic diseases. 

This is exactly where EHR (Electronic Health Records) technology first came into picture. Now, after seven years of the act, where do we stand? Here’s a look at the progress level and future thoughts that could make this technology come around to take a successful stand.

It was in the year 2013, when the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology in their report called “Understanding the Impact of Health IT in Underserved Communities and Those with Health Disparities” depicted how the effective use of EHR’s across major health care service providers all over the country have shown great results in realizing the objectives of quality health services management.

 Starting from Mississippi in the rural belt and stretching far into core metropolitan settlement, the tools of health information technology offers a great chance for medical professionals like doctors and nurses to address a whole gamut of chronic diseases that are destined for a long term check up. There is no denying that when it comes to patient coordination nurses in each and every hospital plays a key role as they are the first person that the patients see when they are admitted in a hospital. With health care tools like electronic health records, they are better updated and hence it works as an effective appendage for them.

 Not only an EHR helps a nurse to gain instant access to medical history and current medical conditions of a patient, it also helps them to document real time patient data and accordingly monitors all real time changes and administers medicine in the right manner. In light of automated situations, nurses and other medical professional are also gearing up to make the most of a high end tech tools as follows:

·         Patient portals – A great way for any individual patient to quickly access his personal health related info which in turn facilitates communication between him and the clinic in particular.

 

·         Mobile health – Seeking effective health care through mobile health technology like using text messaging and other smartphone apps.

·         Population management software (PMS) – Helping hospital nurses keep a tab on a specific patient group like the paediatrics. 

·         External databases – This includes the registries for national disease as well as registries for immunization which help collect all clinical information for a range of patients who seek specialized form of treatment, spanning a particular geographic area.