Running head: MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY 1 MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY 6 Medical Technology Felicia Jones 04/26/2017 Introduction Health Information Technology (HIT) involves the use of a digital format to store, distribute, and analyze health information. HIT is used between doctor-patient communications to improve the patient’s care. The IT professionals working in the HIT are involved in the technical side of managing health information using software and hardware to manage patients’ data. The professionals provide support to the Electronic Health Records (EHRs) management and other professionals to ascertain accurate dissemination of medical records adhering to HIPAA and HITECH rules and regulations (McInnes, 2016). Health and financial benefits of implementing EHR Improved health care and convenience Access to the patients’ records is easy even in remote locations which ease the quality of care in the case of emergencies. Having all the information located at a central place makes decision making easy. Use of EHRs helps different hospitals and laboratories to access a patient’s medical history Improved Patient participation EHRs makes it possible for health professionals to give the patients all their medical evaluations. The providers can provide follow-up information such as web resources and self-care instructions which aid in improving the quality of health care. Improved diagnostics and patient outcomes With an accurate medical history of a patient, the medical professionals can check for any allergies, prior treatments which help during the treatment process. The frequency of medical errors during diagnosis. Qualified EHR checks for problems when a new medication is given to the patient and alerting the doctor in advance in the case of any potential threats. In regard to national disasters where casualties forget their medical history, EHR helps quick retrieval of their history and aid in saving their lives. Time and cost savings Use of EHRs assists in reducing duplication of testing which saves on the cost of conducting laboratory tests. Moreover, the administrative expenses as a result of filling of numerous patients paperwork. As a consequence of the use of EHRs, there is reduced transcription, storage, and chart-pull costs. The use of electronic prescribing reduces medical errors (Goldberg, & Feng, 2012). Cost of implementing and maintaining EHR Setting up an EHR system up and running is quite expensive. Some of the expenses associated with establishing the system are the required hardware and software, installation, training of the IT professionals and ongoing maintenance. There are other costs such as over-time-pay for the providers. Taking a primary care facility with five physicians, the cost of setting up an EHR system is $162,000 and maintenance cost of $ 85,500 within the first year. The IT professionals operating the EHRs needed 611 hours of training whereas each physician require ...

1. Running head: MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY 1
MEDICAL TECHNOLOGY
6
Medical Technology
Felicia Jones
04/26/2017
Introduction
Health Information Technology (HIT) involves the use of a
digital format to store, distribute, and analyze health
information. HIT is used between doctor-patient
communications to improve the patient’s care. The IT
professionals working in the HIT are involved in the technical

2. side of managing health information using software and
hardware to manage patients’ data. The professionals provide
support to the Electronic Health Records (EHRs) management
and other professionals to ascertain accurate dissemination of
medical records adhering to HIPAA and HITECH rules and
regulations (McInnes, 2016).
Health and financial benefits of implementing EHR
Improved health care and convenience
Access to the patients’ records is easy even in remote locations
which ease the quality of care in the case of emergencies.
Having all the information located at a central place makes
decision making easy. Use of EHRs helps different hospitals
and laboratories to access a patient’s medical history
Improved Patient participation
EHRs makes it possible for health professionals to give the
patients all their medical evaluations. The providers can provide
follow-up information such as web resources and self-care
instructions which aid in improving the quality of health care.
Improved diagnostics and patient outcomes
With an accurate medical history of a patient, the medical
professionals can check for any allergies, prior treatments
which help during the treatment process. The frequency of
medical errors during diagnosis. Qualified EHR checks for
problems when a new medication is given to the patient and
alerting the doctor in advance in the case of any potential
threats. In regard to national disasters where casualties forget
their medical history, EHR helps quick retrieval of their history
and aid in saving their lives.
Time and cost savings
Use of EHRs assists in reducing duplication of testing which
saves on the cost of conducting laboratory tests. Moreover, the
administrative expenses as a result of filling of numerous
patients paperwork. As a consequence of the use of EHRs, there
is reduced transcription, storage, and chart-pull costs. The use
of electronic prescribing reduces medical errors (Goldberg, &
Feng, 2012).

3. Cost of implementing and maintaining EHR
Setting up an EHR system up and running is quite expensive.
Some of the expenses associated with establishing the system
are the required hardware and software, installation, training of
the IT professionals and ongoing maintenance. There are other
costs such as over-time-pay for the providers. Taking a primary
care facility with five physicians, the cost of setting up an EHR
system is $162,000 and maintenance cost of $ 85,500 within the
first year. The IT professionals operating the EHRs needed 611
hours of training whereas each physician requires at least 134
hours to get fully acquainted with the new record system. The
cost of setting up a file system for one doctor needs $ 32409.
The cost encompasses hardware costs amounting to $25,000 for
cables, internet cables, and wireless internet connections. The
physician devices such as a personal computer, scanners, and
printers cost $ 7,000 whereas the software and maintenance cost
around $ 7,000. The software and hardware get obsolete with
time hence need to be updated a price that is recurrent when
using EHRs (Fleming, & Culler, 2011).
Security concerns on the use of HIT and the EHR
Despite the many benefits attributed to the use of EHRs and
HIT, there are some concerns about the safety of the patients’
health information. The Health Insurance Portability and
Accountability Act (HIPAA) plays the role of safeguarding the
patients’ interests against the healthcare organizations. Some of
the security concerns are the loss of data when transferring from
paper-based filing system to digital format and intentional or
unintentional access to health information by people intending
to cause harm to the patients. The internal medical records are
vulnerable to outsiders or people within the facility aiming at
breaching the security protocols. The press may pay workers in
the health institution to leak a patient’s medical records if it is
perceived the information may attract many viewers mostly in
the case of politicians. In the event of a breach of medical
records, there is a possible consequence of identity theft leading

4. to the tarnishing of people reputation and credit worthiness
(Ozair, & Aggarwal, 2015).
The HIPAA conducts audits to EHRs systems to ensure
adequate security measures such as firewall, antivirus, and
encryption measures are established to avoid unauthorized
access to health information. Other concerns on Health
Information Systems (HIT) are errors when entering data
resulting to missing data as a result of incompetency of the EHR
providers. Compromise on the data integrity can lead to
misdiagnosis leading to loss of lives. The electronic health
record systems should undergo simulated setting procedures to
check for any loopholes allowing undetected entry to the files
without authorization (Prate, 2014).
Use of electronic health records in decision-making and
problem-solving
Using of EHRs has facilitated decision-making process due to
the integration of data in a central place. The medical
professionals can quickly access the patient medical history to
determine the treatment required. Moreover, use of electronic
medical records helps to determine the appropriate medication
since from the medical records the pharmacist can determine the
patient allergy, needed refills and the appropriate dosages. In
the case of emergency on patients with chronic illnesses such as
asthma or epilepsy, use of EHRs in collaboration with the
patient mobile phones can help manage the patient’s condition.
The physician can quickly access the patient medical records
and instruct on the appropriate first aid before the casualty is
rushed to the hospital hence saving their lives. One of the
components of EHRs is the pop-up reminders. The health care
providers are reminded necessary appointments with their
patients who improve the quality of health care and enhance
patient safety. Moreover, the use of electronic health records
helps to avoid issues of giving different clinical pieces of
advice and duplication of tests. A patient receiving health care
from various physicians can have consistent advice on their

5. health and the medications given are evaluated to avoid
unpleasant reactions in the body (Burton, Anderson & Kues,
2008).
Legislation imposed on the use of HIT and HER
With the increased use of electronic health records in medical
institutions, need to regulate sharing of health information
prompted Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act
regulations to come into action. Legislation of HIPAA on EHR
and HIT is based on two rules, the Security Rule, and the
Privacy Rule. The Human and Health Services first proposed the
Security Rule in 1998, and after deliberations, it was published
in 2003. HIPAA requires the establishment of physical,
technical and administrative safeguards to uphold
confidentiality and integrity of the health records. Some of the
HIPAA requirements to any facility using the HIT is to set up
access controls and authentication processes, issuing unique
user names and passwords for tracking the system’s user
identity. There should be many audit logs to confirm the
integrity and confidentiality measures are intact and safe from
compromise leading to unauthorized access to health
information. Other general rules by the HIPAA require ensuring
the EHR providers to compliance with the security of the
electronic Protected Health Information (e-PHI) (Gov, 2017).
References
McInnes, K. (2016). Health Information Technology Integration
| Agency for Healthcare
Research & Quality. Ahrq.gov. Retrieved 23 April 2017, from
https://www.ahrq.gov/professionals/prevention-chronic-
care/improve/health-
it/index.html
Goldberg, D., & Feng, L. (2012). EHRs in Primary Care
Practices: Benefits, Challenges, and
Successful Strategies. The American Journal of Managed Care,

6. 18(2), 48 - 54.
Fleming, N., & Culler, S. (2011). The Financial and
Nonfinancial Costs of Implementing
Electronic Health Records in Primary Care Practices. Retrieved
23 April 2017, from
http://content.healthaffairs.org/content/30/3/481
Prate, V. (2014). Confidentiality, privacy, and security of health
information: Balancing interests | the
University of Illinois at Chicago. Healthinformatics.uic.edu.
Retrieved 23 April 2017, from
http://healthinformatics.uic.edu/resources/articles/confidentialit
y-privacy-and-security-of-
health-information-balancing-interests/
Ozair, F., & Aggarwal, P. (2015). Ethical issues in electronic
health records: A general
overview. Retrieved 23 April 2017, from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4394583/
BURTON, L., ANDERSON, G., & KUES, I. (2008). Using
Electronic Health Records to Help Coordinate Care. Retrieved
23 April 2017, from
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2690228/
Gov, C. (2017). Summary of the HIPAA Security Rule.
HHS.gov. Retrieved 23 April 2017, from
https://www.hhs.gov/hipaa/for-professionals/security/laws-
regulations/
Section 2: to be handed in
1. A mass on the end of a string of length 30 cm is spun around

7. in a circle in a
horizontal plane. The centre of the circle about which the mass
rotates is directly
below the other end of the string. If the angle of the string
below the horizontal is
α, where tan α = 4/3, how long does it take for the mass to go
around the circle
once?
2. The radius of the orbit of Mars is 228 million kilometres and
it takes 687 days orbit
the sun. Calculate the angular velocity of Mars in radians/s, the
circumference of
its orbit in km and its speed in m/s. What is the magnitude and
direction of its
acceleration?
3. A fairground ride consists of a large drum (radius 4 m).
People stand around the
edge of the drum, which begins to rotate about a vertical axis.
When the drum is
rotating fast enough, the floor drops away, but participants do
not fall: they feel
that they are pressed against the wall of the drum, and are held
in place by friction.
If the coefficient of friction on the wall is µ = 0.4, how long
should the drum take
to complete one revolution so that the participants are just
prevented from slipping
down? Draw a diagram showing all the forces acting on each
person, and find the
speed at which they are moving.
4. The coefficient of friction between the road and the tyres of a
car is 0.7. At what
speed can the car drive round a corner of radius 140 m without

8. skidding, if the road
is horizontal?
5. A road is banked at an angle α so that a car can round a
corner of radius 100 m at
a speed of 25 m/s without skidding, no matter how smooth the
road is (see below).
Calculate the angle of the bank.
Car
α