What are the pros and cons of using paper-based records and electronic health records?

Please review the article titled “A Systematic Review of Research Studies Examining Telehealth Privacy and Security Practices Used By Healthcare Providers”, and answer the following questions below:

1.  Describe how the use of an electronic health record can affect privacy and security in ways that differ from the use of the paper-based records.

2. What are the pros and cons of using paper-based records and electronic health records?

3. Provide an example of a next-generation health care technology and how it can be used in a healthcare organization.

4. Your assignment should be 2 pages in length in Times New Roman 12pt. font.

OBJECTIVES:

1. Evaluate, from published papers, what privacy and security measures were addressed when healthcare providers used telehealth technologies.

2. Compile best practices and guidelines for healthcare professionals using telehealth technologies.

EXCLUSION OF PAPERS

Papers were reviewed and excluded in different phases:

• Phase I: Duplicates Removed. A total of 26,916 papers were found in the three databases and 1,512 were removed as duplicates to yield 25,404 papers.

• Phase II: Articles Removed by Reviewing Title and Abstract. A title/abstract review was conducted, first by two independent reviewers. A third reviewer was used to resolve disagreement (24,998 excluded, to yield a total of 406 papers).

• Phase III: Articles Removed After Reviewing Full Text. A full text review of 406 papers was conducted by all three reviewers (356 excluded, 50 papers remained).

• Phase IV: American Telemedicine Association Guidelines Added. Since the American Telemedicine Association (ATA) guidelines were not returned from the original search because they were guidelines and not peer-reviewed articles, they were added into the original list (50) because of their focus on telehealth, privacy and security (11 added. Total of 61 papers).

• Phase V: Articles Removed by Evaluating Security and Privacy Content. A review of these papers to examine security and privacy contents yielded 40 exclusions. And eventually, a total of 21 papers were included in the final systematic review.

In the initial title/abstract review the major reasons for exclusion were:

1. Papers were published before HIPAA was enforced in 2003 2. Studies were not conducted in the US and therefore did not abide by HIPAA/HITECH In the full text review the major reasons for exclusion were that the papers did not include both telehealth and a major

aspect of privacy and security related to telehealth use.