Health Information Technology (HIT) is certainly in the stage of infancy but on the verge of immense growth. The development of wearable health technology and phone applications that track the number of steps taken, caloric intake, and sleep patters reflects our society’s call for more accurate and transparent data regarding a patients’ health. The development these innovative health apps exist and thrive mainly the private market, which emphasizes the lack of the patient-facing technology in doctor’s offices, public hospitals, and nursing homes. These disparities have even been gaining political momentum: policymakers see HIT as the silver bullet to improving access and quality healthcare in the U.S. (Blumenthal, 2006). However, the literature …show more content…
In nearly every other sector, organizations rely heavily on technology to improve efficiency and quality—this in not the case with healthcare. One reason for the lack of HIT expansion is that there is no economic incentive for technological advances, especially in fee-for-service reimbursement plans. Hospitals may actually benefit from lack of coordination in a fee-for-service model by duplicating or performing extra tests that could be prevented through electronic medical records (EMRs) (Blumenthal, 2006). A pay-for-performance model, on the other hand, may better facilitate the growth of HIT more effectively since physicians and hospitals are driven by quality instead of the number of procedures …show more content…
Expanding health technology has been a political hot topic since the conception of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). While innovative health technology can certainly improve quality and efficiency of care, it has it limitations. What is important to take away from these conversations about HIT, however, is that politicians realize the breadth of technology in our healthcare system and the desperate need for policy reform. As previously mentioned, one major implication associated the expansion of health technology is simply the ambiguity in the outcomes from HIT initiatives. Especially since the implementation of PPACA, there has been a push for evidence-based medicine and health technology is no exception. The critiques that surround the HIT literature are valid, but it ultimately calls for further
Connecting and teaming up with other community interested parties allows the organization to support the financial and quality goals, and coordinate care across the board giving more efficient and quality care (McKesson, 2018). This could help bring occupancy and admission levels up along with maximizing technology’s value by connecting the dots to help reduce complexities and cost. As regulatory, financial, clinical and consumer pressures influence healthcare organizations to produce and provide more effective and efficient care, healthcare technology becomes even more
Pay-for-performance (P4P) is the compensation representation that compensates healthcare contributors for accomplishing pre-authorized objectives for the delivery of quality health care assistance by economic incentives. P4P is increasingly put into practice in the healthcare structure to support quality enhancements in healthcare systems. Thus, pay-for-performance can be seen as a means of attaching financial incentives to the main objectives of clinical care. However, reimbursement is a managed care payment by a third party to a beneficiary, hospital or other health care providers for services rendered to an insured or beneficiary. This paper discusses how reimbursement can be affected by the pay-for-performance approach and how system cost reductions impact the quality and efficiency of healthcare. In addition, it also addresses how pay-for-performance affects different healthcare providers and their customers. Finally, there will also be a discussion on the effects pay-for-performance will have on the future of healthcare.
Many new technologies are being used in health organizations across the nations, which are being utilized to help improve the quality of health care. Electronic Health Records (EHRs) play a critical role in improving access, quality and efficiency of healthcare ("Electronic health records," 2014). In order to assist in expanding the use of EHR’s, in 2011 The Centers for Medicaid and Medicare Services (CMS), instituted a EHR incentive program called the Meaningful use Program. This program was instituted to encourage and expand the use of the HER, by providing health professional and health organizations yearly incentive payments when they demonstrate meaningful use of the EHR ("Medicare and medicaid," 2014). The Meaningful use program will be explored including its’ implications for nurses, nursing, national policy, how the population health data relates to Meaningful use data collection in various stages and finally recommendations for beneficial improvement for patient outcomes and population health and more.
Since the quality of healthcare would not suffer, the only thing to lose through maximizing efficiency is a bunch of waste. Through its administrative simplification advocacy, the American Medical Association (AMA) claims that up to 14% of a physician’s revenue is taken up by administrative waste. The goal of the administrative simplification is to inspire physician practices to use computerized, instantaneous health plan transactions, minimize manual procedures through the claims revenue cycle, while increasing transparency and reducing vagueness with the payment process involving the insurance company. It is the AMA’s hope to push this movement into high gear, getting more practices on board and to eventually see a decline in wasteful and inefficient administrative
The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) was put into place as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and was signed and made a part of law in February 2009. It sponsors the adoption and meaningful use of health information technology. (www.healthcareitnews.com). There was $22 billion and of this $19.2 billion was supposed to be used as a method to increase the use or the Electronic Health Records by the doctors and healthcare facilities. (www.hitechanswers.net).
Advances in technology have influences our society at home, work and in our health care. It all started with online banking, atm cards, and availability of children’s grades online, and buying tickets for social outings. There was nothing electronic about going the doctor’s office. Health care cost has been rising and medical errors resulting in loss of life cried for change. As technologies advanced, the process to reduce medical errors and protect important health care information was evolving. In January 2004, President Bush announced in the State of the Union address the plan to launch an electronic health record (EHR) within the next ten years (American Healthtech, 2012).
There are many challenges when it comes to our health care system that define the future strategic direction. The one chosen for this paper are reform and legislation, information technology advancements such as the electronic medical record (EMR)/ electronic health record (EHR), access to health care including the uninsured and those in the poverty levels, maintaining a skilled workforce and Pay for performance. These challenges pose threats to our health care system planning for the future.
In 2009 President Obama, through the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, pledged to provide incentives to the nation’s physicians and hospitals to convert to an electronic healthcare system in attempt to improve the quality of care and reduce cost (Freudenheim, 2010). By converting to an electronic system, we have the opportunity for improved communication between all healthcare providers and decreased cost to our healthcare system. The goal is to improve communication across all aspects of the service chain (Horan, Botts & Burkhard, 2010). Almost two years later, the conversion progress continues to be slow. Only one in four physician’s offices, mostly large groups, have implemented the electronic record system (Freudenheim, 2010).
ABSTRACT Technology affects society in every aspect in today’s world. There is not one single industry that has not been affected by technology, but no other industry is more affected than the field of medicine and healthcare. Modern technology has changed the structure and organization of the medical field. With rising health care cost the amount of uninsured people keeps rising higher and higher. With new technology the prices will only continue to rise. There are currently approximately 46 million people without health care coverage and that number continues to climb with rising health care cost. Employers are either no longer able to pay for employee insurance because of the 54 percent cost increase, or they are having to change policies
Also, these studies question those who are effected; in this case, those who are most effected, is everyone. Doctors and nurses spend the most time working within these systems, but the information that is put into these systems effects every individual in America, because it is their information. Because nurses are often considered “both coordinators and providers of patient care” and they “attend to the whole patient,” their opinion is highly regarded (Otieno, Toyama, Asonuma, Kanai-Pak, & Naitoh, 2007, p. 210). It is clear that the use of these new systems is much debated, and many people have their own, individualized opinion. This information suggests that when there is a problem in the medical field, those who address it attempt to gather opinions from everyone who is involved before proceeding. It has been proven by multiple studies that this system of record keeping does in fact have potential to significantly improve patient health through efficiency, and it is because of this that the majority of hospitals have already completed, or begun the transfer from paperless to electronic (Otieno, Toyama, Asonuma, Kanai-Pak, & Naitoh,
The health care industry has changed drastically in the last 10 years in aspect to preventive services, facilities that provide services to the underinsured or uninsured, and perspective health care professionals entering into health care. The use of technology
Peter Nicks and William Hirsch’s 2012 documentary film, The Waiting Room, follows the lives of patients, doctors, and staff in a hospital in California. The hospital is a safety net hospital meaning that it provides care to low-income, uninsured populations. The documentary examines the obstacles faced by people who live without healthcare in addition to showing the public what goes in a safety net hospital. The Waiting Room fits into the finger categories of government and politics and science and technology. The most relevant category is government and politics. Healthcare and insurance have played large roles in the government for years. In fact, ObamaCare, the president’s plan for health care reform was one of the root causes of the 2013 government shutdown. This draws attention to just how large and important the congressional healthcare debate truly is. The documentary also fits under the finger category of science and technology. The Waiting Room discusses the technological and scientific innovations found in today’s hospitals. Additionally, it references some of the new methods being used to treat diseases that are prevalent in society. This is particularly significant because these new technologies and treatment methods are being used to save lives every day. The implications of the Waiting Room and safety net hospitals are not limited to finger categories; they are evident in tens of thousands of hospitals throughout the world.
We are living in electrifying times. Mobile health (mHealth) technology is changing every facet of the way we live. Possibly no area is more imperative or more reflective than the improvements we are observing in healthcare (Fox & Duggan, 2012). In current years, there has been an increase of wearable devices, social media, smartphone apps, and telehealth, and each has immense promise for the future of organized health care (Fox & Duggan, 2012). With the capacity to assemble and interpret patient-made data, these mHealth tools keep the assurance of changing the way health care is provided, proposing patients their own customized medical guidance (Manojlovich et al., 2015). Health care availability, affordability, and quality are
Hospitals are always looking for ways to cut costs, improve quality and become more efficient. The Joint Commission implemented its Agenda for Change in 1986 to improve the systems, processes, and, ultimately, the outcomes of care. Andel, Davidow, Hollander and Moreno (2012) state there has not been widespread adoption of these principles, in part because the incentives were not substantial enough to overcome the inertia of many hospital cultures and the US payment system. Since 1986, those hospitals that fought through the initial uneasy struggles that coincided with the agenda have seen great growth in not only quality, but performance, patient safety and satisfaction as well. Moreover, proving that there is no progress without struggle.
Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is reshaping the health care system in the United States at an accelerating rate. In earlier times US Healthcare system was more focused on intervention of diseases, but now it is moving more towards preventive approach and I see Health IT as the most important tool that can lead this change. I strongly believe that my professional goals, range and depth of my experience and knowledge is an asset and my enthusiasm for the field makes me an ideal candidate for the Master of Professional Studies in Technology Management (Health Information Technology) program at Georgetown University.