Health Information System Analysis

Databases, Electronic Healthcare Information Systems, Data Sets and Data Standards Patient data is crucial to healthcare practice. Having the ability to create, modify, delete, and view patient data is the most important aspect of healthcare. A vital storage mechanism to perform the above functions is a database. A database is essential in development of Electronic Health Record system A database is an organized collection of data saved as a binary-type file on a computer (Sayles, 2013). Binary-type files only contains ones and zeros so it is unreadable to end users. A database management system provides the ability to perform the functions mentioned above. Many vendors are available in the marketplace for different kinds of database

Are you and your staff anywhere near ready for ICD-10’s October 1st deadline? Maybe you’ve been overwhelmed just trying to implement all of the other changes happening in healthcare thanks to the Affordable Care Act, EMR mandates, increased Medicare audits, and value-based purchasing penalties; you’ve hardly had time to prepare for this latest coding switch.

Information systems assist Patton-Fuller Community Hospital in setting and accomplishing it goals of improving and collaborating interdepartmentally with management, employees, staff, and customers (Apollo Group, Inc, 2013). Proficient information systems objectives are to provide effective and efficient services; add profit and cost-avoidance; and social responsibility (Blue Avenue Associates, 2010). Patton-Fuller objectives are to improve the efficiency of the hospital operations, relationship with current and future patients, and support finance management (Apollo Group, Inc, 2013).

ICD-10 implementation will affect nearly all core operations of health care organizations. Numerous organizations use diagnosis codes for a variety of reasons. Transitioning to ICD-10 requires changes to almost all clinical and administrative processes and systems. These changes are required of all HIPAA covered entities. The workplace may be any type of healthcare organization, such as:

The Health Information Management (HIM) existence to the health care provides quality to patient care from different settings connecting administrative, clinical and operation responsibility. Clinical, legal and financial knowledge allow HIM professionals to manage patient’s health record, capturing healthcare

Health care providers as well as nurses must keep track of all pertinent patient information and failure to do so leads to detrimental effect on the patient's life. CIS clinical information systems are "large, computerized database management systems that support several types of activities that include physician order entry, result retrieval, documentation and decision support". CIS is intended to replace medical records department of a hospital or any other medical institution. Physicians and clinicians can safely and quickly access information, order medication and treatments and implement appropriate care. CIS will hopefully improve productivity, increase quality care and reduce costs across the organization.

Having the lack of knowledge of the ICD-10 coding will not only affect our patients care from longer waiting time for authorizations to even denials. I also believe that it will affect the revenue that we receive into our facility from the insurance companies. Judith Veazie (October, 2014) author of the article “Creating an ICD-10 Training Strategy” states that no matter what field of healthcare you are in you will be affected by the current change to ICD-10. This new system provides better ways to submit your insurance claims for processing for reimbursement if coded properly. Veazie also says the benefit of ICD-10 is the specific amounts of codes that are now available to us which in return will be a benefit to our patients and facility.

The topic of transitioning to the ICD-10 coding system has become a very big issue within the medical practice field. In fact, as of October 1, 2015, all physicians, hospitals, and medical providers are required by the federal government to be in full compliance using ICD-10 coding. ICD-10-CM codes allow for medical providers to provide as much information as possible about the patients state of health and all treatment provided as such. In addition, "The CPT coding system offers doctors across the country a uniform process for coding medical services that streamlines reporting and increases accuracy and efficiency (Ama-assnorg, 2015)."

Currently, the healthcare industry only spends 2% of gross revenues on health information technology, while the banking industry spends upwards of 10%. However, the Veterans Healthcare System is one of the largest integrated systems in the world. One hundred fifty-five hospitals and eight hundred clinics rely on one electronic health system (Gupta & Murtaza, 2009). Implementing information systems in hospitals is more challenging than elsewhere because of the complexity of medical data, data entry problems, security and confidentiality concerns and a general lack of awareness of the benefits of Information Technology (Boonstra et al., 2014). The newly implemented system must be reliable from the onset as patient care does not cease in the meantime. Technology has the potential to streamline current practices and reduce costs, however, hospitals must consider the potential risks and consequences of a poorly implemented project and agree that failure is not an option. Good project planning and management can assure success of Electronic Health Record

In order for a smooth transition of the ICD-10 coding in hospitals and clinics, each position has a specific role to follow. Healthcare administrators and management will oversee the implementation process and educate all employees. One particular position that will need to stay on top of the transition process will be the information technology department. Their role will be to update all computers and software for ICD-10 coding. In addition to the frequent updates, IT department is responsible to convert all payment systems to the ICD-10 code changes. The front desk personnel should be familiar with the changes to forms, policies, and requirements for insurances. Acquiring this information from the patient can limit the amount of costly mistakes

Health information management, or HIM, is a career in the health profession which obtains, analyzes, protects, and maintains accurate and vital medical information, in both digital and traditional formats, to provide quality healthcare. Health information managers must be diligent in keeping information accurate to ensure that providers, patients, and other healthcare administrators receive correct information. This data is not just important; it’s essential, which is what makes health information managers so vital to the health care industry.

Decisions will need to be made as to which hardware configuration is going to be used as well as which network communication, where the centralized location of the facility will be and what software will support the network. Policies will need to be developed to ensure the safe operation throughout the organization. One such policy is data standardization. In data standardization, data is presented in the standard way, such as dates. All systems working in the organization would share the same data, all via dates. Data compatibility is extremely important and some National standards organizations are working on uniform ways to represent all health care-related data. Medicare/Medicaid standards continue to dominate in this arena to date. The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) have established mandatory guidelines regarding electronic data and have created a standard that all organizations must follow. The uniformity of hardware and software is also extremely important. There must be a compatibility and ease of maintenance throughout the system. There would need to be ongoing reviews to control inappropriate use, such as people installing copied software. Another component of IM/IT governance would be to set IT project priorities and oversee investments. This remains a vital role in the success of the IM/IT operations, so it is important the IM/IT staff are trained and have the

Clients medical history, orders, and vital signs can be obtained by using medical informatics. Obtaining health information includes electronic devices such as electronic health records EHR, electronic medical records EMR, and MyChart. Paper charts are another way that can be used by health care providers to obtain necessary information.

Health information management involves the practice of maintaining and taking care of health records in hospitals, health insurance companies and other health institutions, by the use of electronic means (McWay 176). Storage of medical information is carried out by health information management and HIT professionals using information systems that suit the needs of these institutions. This paper answers four major questions concerning health information systems.

Managing the performance of a facility data system or patient information is an important, yet challenging process for any manager. The process of monitoring what each employee does, how they are entering patient information, and how the information is used can be a difficult and somewhat challenging. A range of recently published research discussed the problems in many health information management services departments in various facilities and doctors offices. Management in that area is under trained and many feel that when dealing with patient information facilitators need to more aware of issues that are going on instead of sweeping them under the rug.