Health informatics (HI) professionals need to remember, IT solutions that work in hospitals most likely will not work in settings like ambulatory care, home health and long-term care (LTC). These areas of health care require very different IT solutions to meet their individual regulatory requirements and practice settings. Ambulatory care, most notably physician’s offices provide care over longer time spans than do hospitals; so their IT solutions need to be able to track trends over time with their patients. Resources are limited, especially in smaller practices, so web-based applications are popular (“Ambulatory,” 2010). Physicians may need to access patient records outside of the office; another reason web-based solutions are attractive. The HI professional needs to ensure that any application allows interface with pharmacies, laboratories and diagnostic centers so appropriate referrals can be made and after-hours results can be accessed. In my opinion because physician offices generally have less staff than hospitals training and implementation times may be shorter. …show more content…
Any EHR platform must function at the point of care since providers are in the home; however, access to web-based applications is difficult due to variability in internet access (“Health IT,” n.d.). The HI professional needs to be sensitive regarding initial start-up costs since many agencies are small. An HI professional can be a valuable asset if he/she comes prepared with solutions to interoperability issues between disparate home health applications, standardization of data entry, and support for ICD-10 coding (“Health IT,” n.d.). In my opinion applications that can be accessed via a smart phone may address the variability of internet access; however, the applications must be secure and protect the patient’s
Health care information system (HCIS) is an arrangement of information (data), processes, people, and information technology that interact to collect, process, store, and provide as output the information needed to support the health care organization (Wager, Lee, Glaser, 2013, p. 105). Having ready access to timely, complete, accurate, legible, and relevant information is critical to health care organizations, providers, and the patients they serve (Wagerm Lee, & Glaser, 2013). In the health care industry, the quality of care is one of the most important objectives for most health care organizations. The growing developments in health information technology have a great impact on the delivery of health care and have changed the systems used to record and share information. It has the potential to improve the quality of care if it is appropriately used. Health care organizations routinely apply computers and other technologies to record and transfer health information such as diagnoses, prescriptions, and insurance information.
Unfortunately, the quality of health care in America is flawed. Information technology (IT) offers the potential to address the industry’s most pressing dilemmas: care fragmentation, medical errors, and rising costs. The leading example of this is the electronic health record (EHR). An EHR, as explained by HealthIT.gov (n.d.), is a digital version of a patient’s paper chart. It includes, but is not limited to, medical history, diagnoses, medications, and treatment plans. The EHR, then, serves as a resource that aids clinicians in decision-making by providing comprehensive patient information.
When walking into a hospital, nursing home, or physician’s office, electronic devices are used everywhere. The doctors have pagers, drugs are released from an apparatus similar to vending machines, and the patients are connected to intravenous pumps and monitors, while they lay on beds that move with the touch of a button. Everything seems to be electronic, except for patient charts. A new system, called eHealth, was devised that would make these patient charts electronic. The goal for electronic health is to unite all healthcare by making patient records available to all providers in order to improve the quality of care patients receive. eHealth can be adopted into hospitals, physicians’ offices, and even ambulatory services. A 2006 study found, “Ambulatory EHRs improve the structure of care delivery, improve clinical processes, and enhance outcomes” (Shekelle 61). With professionals working together, procedures, scans, tests, and even visits to the hospital can be eliminated and in turn reduce the hospital’s expenses. However, this reduction may not add up to the investment the facilities will have to make. Adopting this system will cost more the some facilities are able to spend. However, investing in eHealth is a risk hospitals should take to improve patient care. eHealth has to become affordable to all providers for healthcare to reach its full potential.
Tan & Payton (2010) describe the electronic health record (EHR), which dates back to the 1950s. These computer-based patient records have evolved into complex systems with many capabilities. They were designed to provide healthcare professionals with a comprehensive picture of a patient’s health status at any time and are meant to automate and streamline the workflow of the healthcare professional (Tan & Payton,
HIE is meant to improve efficiency, speed, quality, and cost of patient care. It is thought by some in the industry that HIE is not able to address recurring challenges associated with rapid technological advancements. The initiative for HIE is being driven by meaningful use requirements, coordination needs for new payment approaches, and federal financial incentives. While HIE has been more than twenty years in the making, it has only recently gained the majority of its support. This is because, in the recent years, HIE success has been marginal when compared to its failures and shortcomings.
Health issues throughout the human lifespan are always hard to deal with. In this essay, I will give examples of different health issues that occur throughout the lifespan of a human. The seven different stages of a human’s lifespan include: infancy, early childhood, middle childhood, adolescence, early adulthood, middle adulthood, and late adulthood. By the concluding paragraph of this essay, you will have gained knowledge of some of the health related issues of a given person throughout their lifespan.
An electronic health information exchange is the sharing of health related information between patients, providers, nursing staff, pharmacists and other health care organizations. The main objective of an electronic health information exchange (HIE) is for patients’ personal health information to be available, accessible, and sharable at any time and to follow them from physician to physician, increasing interoperability while decreasing cost and time. There are many benefits to an organization implementing a health information exchange; an HIE can decrease unnecessary services and reduce costs by making administrative duties more efficient. It also allows patients to get more involved with their own health care and encourages a better quality of care. The health information exchange improves the quality of care in healthcare organizations. One area of concern when being a part of the health information exchange is technical issues that could occur in the system. Getting patient information to successfully transfer from provider to provider, state agencies included, is a challenge that health information organizations can face. “Although these organizations have proven the ability to receive information, they have realized that a lack of consensus in terms of standards prevents them from pushing data effectively and economically.”(Milstine, 2011 p.761) This issue has the potential to be a problem for health information managers because HIM professionals must follow all laws and standards for protecting patient personal health information.
Electronic Health Records (EHRs) have drastically changed health care. From quality to efficiency, EHRs have transformed Health Care from an inaccurate, inefficient, and problematic system to a system that is much more reliable. Electronic Health Records do have their drawbacks; however, they are much more reliable than a paper system. Through the Affordable Care Act the government is now requiring EHRs to be implemented to receive benefits. Not only that, but the clinic will receive benefits per physician for implementing earlier than other clinics. Meaningful Use may be coming to an end, but many clinics have already implemented a system, which will carry on the policy for years to come. Two main jobs have been created from this: Health Informaticians
Health shapes our life, if you practice bad health practices, chances are you’re often sick, overweight, disease, or other medical issue. There are three main points of a person’s health, not just their physical health. The three parts are; social, mental/emotional, and of course physical. Setting health goals depends on age, body, and health of a person. I am 14 years old, and I am 5 feet tall, around 100 pounds. I’m generally the correct size for someone of my age. Though, it’s hard to achieve perfect health.
HIEs allow disparate EHR systems to communicate and allow for broader data analysis, which will be helpful as reimbursement models shift to pay-for-performance. One major initiative is the CONNECT community portal, which uses Nationwide Health Information Network standards and policies to share big data both locally and nationally. While several benefits may be realized using HIEs, barriers to adoption exist. An executive summary written by Hersh et al categorized barriers (and facilitators) of HIEs into three areas, including lack of critical mass electronically exchanging data, workflow, and interface. The first category, lack of critical mass, includes issues such incomplete or unhelpful data, issues that affect the completeness of patient data, and data that is not easily attached to a patient. Workflow barriers include who enters and access the data and how they use the information. While slow system speed is an absolute barrier in the interface category, other interface and feature issues are somewhat subjective based on who is using the system. Other barriers identified include those related to the external environment (legislative and funding constraints), lack of standards, interoperability issues, and disincentives, the mismatch between investors in HIE and those who benefit from its
The process of implementing an EHR occurs over a number of years. An electronic record of health-related information on individuals conforming to interoperability standards can be created, managed and consulted with the authorized health professionals (Wager et al., 2009). This information technology system electronically gathers and stores patient data, and supplies that information as needed to the healthcare professionals, as well as a caregiver can also access, edit or input new information; this system functions as a decision support tool to the health professionals. Every healthcare organization is increasingly aware of the importance of adopting EHR to improve the patient satisfaction, safety, and lower the medical costs. Studies have implied that, healthcare professionals who practice clinical features through EHR were far more likely to provide better preventive care than were healthcare professionals who did not.
What are the roles of a public health informatician in building and enhancing the public health infrastructure
Health literacy plays an important role in individuals’ decision-making. The scope of health literacy does not limit to traditional medical perspective. In fact, it has extended from the basic understanding of diseases and medications to all aspects that affect health. As one of the key social determinants, health literacy has huge impact on health and well-being. Its influence is associated with disease prevention, healthy lifestyle promotion, policy making, etc. This essay will first discuss the concept of health literacy and the consequences that link to it, and then give a strategy—designing user-centred messages in education, to improve health literacy,
Healthcare is changing daily and with technology these changes are occurring faster. Health informatics is one of these changes. It combines healthcare, information technology and business. This technology makes it easier for healthcare personnel to access client information and for clients to manage their healthcare.
Health care has always been an interesting topic all over the world. Voltaire once said, “The art of medicine consists of amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.” It may seem like health care that nothing gets accomplished in different health care systems, but ultimately many trying to cures diseases and improve health care systems.