Health Care Video Analysis

Background: The Federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) identified five goals for adopting health information technology (HIT) into the current health care systems that would significantly improve healthcare in America. (Abdelhak, Grostick, & Hanken, 2012, p. 82) These goals will help improve the quality of care within the federal health system by reducing medical errors, cost, and duplication of workload.

Health information technology or HIT is a huge part of the dashing changes in how medications are prescribed, dispensed, and administered by using technologies electronic devices to share and manage patient information, instead of doing it the old fashion way which was over the phone, having all patients’ records and files on paper, and using the old fax method. Everything is computerized, from managing the

Amazing Healthcare Informatics Tools Technology has made a monumental and undeniable impact on health care. The management, delivery of care and even the way we communicate have evolved. Technology has transformed how we as a society communicate with one another and with caregivers. Communication is a leading component of healthcare and is vital between caregivers and patients. People living longer, increased interest in self-care & awareness, research, and chronic illness have been influential as well.

The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA), is legislation aimed at the adoption and “meaningful use” of health information technology. CMS was authorized to establish incentive programs for eligible Medicare and Medicaid providers who adopt, implement, upgrade, or “meaningfully use” certified electronic health records (EHR). The term “meaningful use” is an acknowledgement that improved health care is not the product of technology but a method to exchange and use health information to support clinical decisions at the point of care.

"Health information technology can be used to study or improve care coordination and its patient-centeredness. More pointedly, HIT provides an opportunity to organize disparate data sources into one cohesive, patient-centered record" (Steichen & Gregg, 2015, p. 34). With its ability to rapidly share health care information such as care plans and discharge summaries, clinical staff can make more timely decisions. Families will also be prompted to be more involved in the patient care due to the availability of current information and resources. There is no doubt that health care is evolving, and technology is creating new ways for us to stay connected, which is essential for successful care coordination.

Although HIT can provide tools to help with decision making in regards to diagnosis, management of disease, treatment, and prevention, the current EHR’s do not have a link to support systems to help manage chronic care. Primary care practices must now shift their focus on healthy patients, as well as acute and chronically ill patients. With HIT a provider can effectively report the quality measures, however the current EHR’s cannot identify which patients may need particular services (3).

The ARRA includes the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, which pursues to improve American Healthcare and patient care through an extraordinary investment in Healthcare IT (HIT). The requirements of the HITECH Act are precisely designed to work jointly to provide the necessary assistance and technical operation to providers, enable grammatical relation and organization within and among states, establish connectivity in case of emergencies, and see to it the workforce is properly trained and equipped to be meaningful users of certified Electronic Health Records (EHRs). These computer software products are designed collaboratively to intensify the footing for every American to profit from an electronic health record (EHR) as part of a modernized, interrelated, and vastly improved grouping of care delivery.

The healthcare industry is in the midst of a major change from paper based medical record keeping to electronic medical record keeping. As part of the American Recovery and Investment Act of 2009, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act was passed (Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, 2014). HITECH is the U.S. Government’s first major contribution to the change from paper to electronic health information technology by setting meaningful use incentive program for Medicare and Medicaid providers that met certain requirements. Healthcare professionals that meet the meaningful use criteria will be awarded financially, and those that don’t meet the 2015 guideline will be penalized. We live in an electronic world of instant access to information and by adopting health information technology we give providers better and easier access to more information which in turn allows them to make a more informed diagnosis and treatment plan for the patient. The electronic health record (EHR) is part of the new information technology. According to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (2014.), EHR’s provide many benefits such as improvement in the quality of patient care; improvement in the coordination of patient care; more accurate diagnosis and better outcomes; a higher level of patient participation in their own care; and cost savings for the practice

It is interesting that technology has evolved vastly particularly in the healthcare industry some important examples are the Electronic Health Record EHR, Personal Health Records PHRs, Electronic Prescribing E-prescribing. HIT is important to healthcare as it is used as storage and also to share among healthcare workers such as from a primary care physician to that of a specialist in the treatment of a patient.

In 2013, the HIMSS Board of Directors defined interoperability in health care as having the ability to have different information technology systems and software applications communicate, exchange date, and then use the information that has been exchanged (HIMSS, 2015). Data exchange permits data accessibility between organizational boundaries, while interoperability means health systems have the ability to work together in order to advance the health status of the individuals and communities the system serves. For two systems to be interoperable, they must be able to exchange data that can be understood by a user (HIMSS, 2015). This is extremely important to the goals of HITECH and meaningful use because it aligns with the government standard

Health care professionals have described how information technology is changing the way health care operates, and it has become the modern way of staying in touch with patients who have chronic conditions (Muhammad, Allen, Ali, Bonacina, & Adams, 2014). Education for patients can help prevent the addition of secondary conditions, and with proper instruction the disease process can be slowed down, all support patients can receive will benefit them and their family (Enworom & Tabi, 2015).

ARRA, cosigned the HITREC (Health Information Technology Regional Extension Center) focal point on healthcare, which includes monetary incentives, grants and loans funding, promotion of HIT all through Medicaid and Medicare. By applying and maintain HIT standards, these acts were designed to improve the quality, efficiency, safety and security/privacy within healthcare. The grant and loan portion of the MU act assist in the following areas of HIT: research to strengthen the HIT foundation, applications, Regional Extension Centers and lastly assist physicians and hospitals with adopting certified EMR/EHR technology by using “meaningfully through the socialized medicine providers Medicare and Medicaid (Meaningful Use: A Summary History, 2011).

In order to create a more efficient, patient-centered healthcare system, HIT must begin to focus on providing data in a fashion that is accurate, timely, and interoperable. By doing so, we reduce the risks of errors due to misinformation, reduce treatment cost caused by repetitive treatments and testing, and begin to focus on using information to prevent maladies rather than cure. Although the US is clinically advanced, they have not figured out a way to deter the rising costs of healthcare caused by preventable error (Matthew Scholl, 2010). There are several documents that pertain to the use of HIT to accomplish this in a standardized method.

Digital technology has transformed our world. Smart phones, tablets and web based devices changed our daily lives and the way we communicate. Within digital healthcare infrastructure, creation of Electronic Health Records (EHR) transformed the way care is delivered and compensated. EHR is the digital version of a patients paper chart. EHRs are the real time, patient centered information available for authorized health care providers. Through EHR, health information can be created, managed and shared between providers. EHRs can share the information between providers and organization, so that they comprise information from all clinician involved in a patients care (Aziz & Alsharabasi, 2015). EHR includes many potential capabilities, but three

It is important to understand that patients are very satisfied with electronic health systems. For example, patients see a vast improvement in the speed at which they are being seen when they go their doctors’ office. Patients no longer have to wait on their physicians for hours due to the fact that their information can be readily available to their physicians when they come to see them. Moreover, all their information is transparent to their health care provider since all their data is in electronic form.