Question

The driving force for HIT adoption is the recognition of human limitations in knowing, retaining and applying exponentially increasing amounts of relevant information to clinical processes. Health care planners could be effective and efficient if they used the concept of the natural history of disease and the levels of prevention to design services that intervene at the weakest link in the chain of progression of specific diseases. Instead, most focus on high-technology solutions to preventable problems while experts know that high-technology solutions do not address health disparities, the major causes of diseases and disabilities. What are some characteristics of the medical care culture that hinder the prevention focus? How can EHR's be used to address health disparities?

Answer 1

Characteristics of medical care culture which hinder prevention focus

Characteristics of patient- as the patient needs instant cure instead of prevention of lifestyle disorders eg. don't want to quit smoking but wanted to treat oral ulcers.

Characteristic of physician- As the physician wants to gain confidence of the patient, using high technologies to rule out the issues and treating for instant cure instead of advising lifestyle modifications

Characteristic of the location- As people living in rural areas wont get adequate healthcare facilities for preventive care

Education- Educated people get more benefits rather than uneducated

Using EHR to address health disparities

The adoption of EHR provides a promising outcome especially for the underserved and the people living in rural areas.

It helps to provide comprehensive care with a clear understanding regarding cooccuring health problems.

Patient care and coordination of health care services get improved by EHR's

It helps the physician in their clinical decision making