Health Information Technologies Paper

Overview

In this module, we describe Health IT and discuss the Systems Development Life Cycle.

MODULE INTRODUCTION
The description of health IT includes a discussion of its scope and current status then provides a detailed description of the types of health IT systems that may be found in any type of provider setting. The systems development life cycle is specifically applied to health IT system selection, implementation, maintenance, and monitoring of results, whether for new systems or replacement systems.

Assignment Checklist

The topic items that follow are required for completing this module:

1. Discussion 11.1: IT Systems  [1b, 1f, 2a, 2d]
2. Dropbox 11.1: Lab Assignment 11.1  [1b, 1f, 2a, 2d]
3. SPC Real World Case 11.1: Diabetic Record Access  [1b, 1f, 2a, 2d]
4. SPC Real World Case 11.2: Critical Access Hospital  [1b, 1f, 2a, 2d]

Discussion – IT Systems15 POINTS

In this discussion, you will highlight the scope of health information technology and give an example on how it has evolved to its current state of implementation in hospitals, ambulatory care, and other healthcare settings.

For this discussion, you will answer the following questions in your post:

• Highlight the scope of health information technology.
• Give an example on how it has evolved to its current state of implementation in hospitals, ambulatory care, and other healthcare settings.

For this discussion, read Chapter 11 and research the internet to gather information.

Real World Case 11.120 POINTS

For this activity, you will review the Real World Case 11.1 in your textbook. You will conduct an analysis of the situation and summarize how you would have addressed the issues.

It is imperative for all of your healthcare providers to have access to your entire health record. Having the ability to coordinate overall care between multiple providers requires everyone to have access to the most current and accurate information.

Analyze Real World Case 11.1. For this assignment, you will follow the established personal health record of a diabetic patient named John and evaluate the efficiency of access to his health information.

You will then answer the following questions in the Quiz Tool, using complete sentences and focusing on relevant details.

1. What is the standard format in which John’s hometown physician can send referral information to his new PCP?
2. Why does John use a standalone personal health record (PHR) instead of one from his provider?
3. When John is hospitalized, what core EHR component enables medication allergy checking?

Real World Case 11.120 POINTS

For this activity, you will review the Real World Case 11.1 on page 316-317 of your textbook. You will conduct an analysis of the situation and summarize how you would have addressed the issues.

It is imperative for all of your healthcare providers to have access to your entire health record. Having the ability to coordinate overall care between multiple providers requires everyone to have access to the most current and accurate information.

Analyze Real World Case 11.1. For this assignment, you will follow the established personal health record of a diabetic patient named John and evaluate the efficiency of access to his health information.

You will then answer the following questions in the Quiz Tool, using complete sentences and focusing on relevant details.

1. What is the standard format in which John’s hometown physician can send referral information to his new PCP?
2. Why does John use a standalone personal health record (PHR) instead of one from his provider?
3. When John is hospitalized, what core EHR component enables medication allergy checking?

Real World Case 11.220 POINTS

For this activity, you will review the Real World Case 11.2. You will conduct an analysis of the situation and summarize how you would have addressed the issues.

Choosing an electronic health record system is never easy. You have to take into consideration what you want the system to be able to do, how will off-campus physicians access the health information, how will your current processes fit within the EHR structure, and most importantly, how will you maintain privacy and security.

Analyze Real World Case 11.2:

Rural Hospital is a 15-bed critical access hospital that has had a hospital information system (HIS) that provides typical administrative information systems services for a number of years. It also has had an LIS system from a different vendor. It does not have a full time pharmacist, so it has not had a pharmacy information system. Except for basic radiology procedures, it refers patients to a tertiary facility about 60 miles away and does not have a radiology information system. Broadband has not been financially accessible to the community. There are three primary care providers within a 30- mile radius of the hospital and none use an EHR. These physicians are predominantly those working off student loans or are on temporary visas for foreign physicians. Turnover is high. The hospital decided to acquire an EHR system when the MU program started. Believing its options were limited, it contracted with a vendor who catered to critical access hospitals. The vendor implemented a stage 1 certified EHR.

The hospital subsequently found that because of its old and incompatible HIS, manual entry or re-entry of data was often required to register a patient into the EHR, to post discharges to the HIS, and such. Without a pharmacy information system, the physicians’ orders for medications had to be printed for the traveling pharmacist to use in stocking the medication cabinet for the nurses. The lack of other physician and nurse documentation not required in stage 1 resulted in the hospital printing all contents of the EHR to paper and continuing to file a paper chart. The result was significantly more time required to use the EHR system than with the paper chart alone. Finally, when stage 2 criteria for certification were released, the vendor struggled to respond and ultimately was sold to another company with no experience servicing small hospitals.

Since incentives in the MU program were front-loaded (the majority of the incentives were delivered for demonstrating meaningful use of stage 1) and the critical access hospital is presently reimbursed on a cost rather than fee-for-service basis (HealthIT.gov 2015), it made the

decision to delay further deployment of health information systems. It wants to hire a health information management professional, contract for more comprehensive IT support, and engage physicians and community leaders in more thoroughly evaluating both health IT options and the state of reimbursement for critical access hospitals. It recognizes that whatever the future holds, it will need to move to a best-of-fit health IT environment, probably utilizing a SaaS provider through cloud computing, requiring affordable and reliable broadband services.

HealthIT.gov. 2015. Benefits for Critical Access Hospitals and Other Small Rural Hospitals.

For this assignment, you will evaluate the current process of a newly implemented EHR system in a critical access hospital. Take into consideration, that this facility has a large turnover rate of physicians, no full-time pharmacist, and a limited radiology department.

You will then answer the following questions in the Quiz Tool, using complete sentences and focusing on relevant details:

1. Define the terms used in the critical access hospital’s description of its future needs.
   • Best-of-fit.
   • SaaS provider.
   • Cloud computing.
2. Why does the critical access hospital need broadband connectivity?
3. What are some of the considerations this hospital must make when deciding on acquiring an EHR?

Real World Case 11.220 POINTS

For this activity, you will review the Real World Case 11.2 on page 317-318 of your textbook. You will conduct an analysis of the situation and summarize how you would have addressed the issues.

Choosing an electronic health record system is never easy. You have to take into consideration what you want the system to be able to do, how will off-campus physicians access the health information, how will your current processes fit within the EHR structure, and most importantly, how will you maintain privacy and security.

Analyze Real World Case 11.2. For this assignment, you will evaluate the current process of a newly implemented EHR system in a critical access hospital. Take into consideration, that this facility has a large turnover rate of physicians, no full-time pharmacist, and a limited radiology department

You will then answer the following questions in the Quiz Tool, using complete sentences and focusing on relevant details.

1. Define the terms used in the critical access hospital’s description of its future needs.
   • Best-of-fit.
   • SaaS provider.
   • Cloud computing.
2. Why does the critical access hospital need broadband connectivity?
3. What are some of the considerations this hospital must make when deciding on acquiring an EHR?