Assignment 3
What do the four quadrants of the conceptual HIS planning framework represent? What does it
mean to have a balanced HIS architecture?
The Health Information Systems (HIS) consists of four quadrants. These four quadrants
are systems and their management, health informatics, data and analytics, and research, policy,
and public health. The first quadrant is Systems and their management, this is the foundation for
the other three quadrants. This first quadrant consists of the well built and properly managed
computer systems to serve as the foundation for all other quadrants. Without this foundation
none of the other quadrants could exist. The second quadrant is Health informatics. This layer
consists of the use of information systems and technology to do three things. The first being
redesigning and improving the way work is done. The second is to improve practice in clinical,
administrative and public health disciplines. The third factor is to develop ways of using systems
to improve health care. The third quadrant is data and analytics. This is the primary use of data
linked to daily activities and transactions of health care related to the clinical, administrative, and
personal aspects. This also uses secondary data to create information through access to an
aggregation of data. Two important factors in this quadrant are use of business intelligence and
clinical intelligence. The fourth quadrant is research, policy and public health. This layer consists
of the data created and captured in HIS being available for research, policy and public health
aspects. This can be done by conducting research, formulating and implementing policy and
improving the overall public’s health. To have all of these quadrants equally balanced means that
everything must be aligned in order to achieve the overall vision for the future state of public
health. If this was misaligned a significant amount of resources and time would be wasted, this is
why it is important to have a good foundation with the first quadrant so that all other quadrants
can be aligned for the best possible outcomes.
