New Century Wellness Group : Business And Health Information Management

Our one hundred bed hospital is in need of updating from paper charting to computerized health records. In doing this, we will meet our goal of compliance with meaningful use legislation. We assembled a team of members to assist with this task and together we have narrowed the search to two health care systems. Those two systems are EPIC and Meditech and we will now discuss the advantages and disadvantages of each, with a final recommendation for our new healthcare system.

The high cost of healthcare continues to rise and many in the United States are optimistic for health information technology to reduce and improve our current situation. Health IT encompasses a broad array of new technologies designed to manage and share health-related information. When properly implemented, these systems can help coordinate patient care, reduce medical errors, and improve administrative efficiency. Therefore, implementing a Regional Health Information Organization (RHIO) will help the National Health Information Network (NHIN) achieve their goals in improving quality of care for the citizens of the United States. Thus, in order for the health IT to deliver on its promise, several obstacles must be overcome.

14. Capability to exchange key clinical information among providers of care and patient-authorized entities electronically

As you requested at our September 25 meeting, I have research numerous techniques of keeping health care information organized. The program that has been used for years to keep the patient’s health record protected, seems to have numerous of glitches. As many of you know we are known for keeping our customers at our best interest, I would appreciate your input on which programs would you feel comfortable working with.

In order to meet the requirements set forth by the Federal Government many health care institutions began the painstaking process of seeking out an electronic program. These institutions sought to purchase a system that would have the capacity to interact with other programs, and the flexibility to allow all clinical personnel easy access to pertinent medical information such as labs, diagnostic test results and past medical history.

The health information system being selected is QuaDramed and the hypothetical health care organization selected is rural hospital. QuaDraMed EHR solution provides the accurate, reliable foundation organizations need to link and manage patient records across disparate Information technology (IT) systems in rural hospital. By leveraging the powerful capabilities of QuaDramed’s EHR technology and PatientSecure, organizations can better patient safety and satisfaction, protect patients from medical identity theft, and minimize the risk of insurance card fraud. Organizations can also reduce duplicate healthcare records and overlays in the EHR leading to immediate cost and time saving (QuadraMed Corporation, 2015).

The main reason institutions are switching to the new technology of exchanging health information is specifically to reduce costs and help improve health care quality. In this case study that is what San Luis Valley Regional Medical Center wanted exactly, to effortlessly exchange patient’s medical information. San Luis Valley Regional Medical Center which is a rural hospital in Alamosa Colorado is one of the many hospitals and providers that can benefit from this change. In 2004 AHRQ signed a contract to the University of Colorado Health and sciences Center, which later on developed a point-of-care inquiry system for four healthcare organizations in the Denver region. The system allowed emergency room clinicians within the four locations to exchange medical data. They were able to sufficiently and rapidly retrieve and send patient medical histories, x-rays, medication lists, and all problem lists. The AHRQ contract also help started the development of the

Health Information Exchange is a fairly new concept in the healthcare field. There were several precursors to HIE that were in use throughout the United States, these include Community Health Management Information Systems, Community Health Information Networks, and Regional Health Information Organizations. There are several data factors that make up a Health Information Exchange, the Electronic Health Record and the Personal Health Record. One of the biggest concerns about medical information is keeping it safeguarded, and there are three ways to accomplish this, with administrative, physical, and technical safeguards. Finally, there are a number of benefits to having a secure Health Information Exchange. The benefits include; accessibility, wherein multiple users can access the data at the same time, communication, wherein providers can share information quickly with no corruption of critical data, and better healthcare management. By building disease and chronic care registries, symptoms, treatment, and outcomes are tracked. The Health Information Exchange also enables contagious disease and bioterrorism tracking, but reporting symptoms to the CDC daily.

A major parts of the Triple Aim is to provide efficiency in the coordination of care. The next major part of success is sharing clinical data among different locations. The sharing of clinical data on the electronic health records on allows more transparency and coordination of multiple sites. This efficiency will further promote the overall success of the industry. For example, CareOregon effectively coordinating care for high-risk patients saving up to $5,000 per member and Genesys Health System study showed 50% reduction in hospitalization using their integrated network (McCarthy & Klein, 2010).

The basic components that are essential to the system would start with the efficiency and dependability of the new system. Meaning that the system should have the ability to track our patients throughout their lifetime and be based on specific medical needs. It also needs to have functions that will allow our medical practice to track clinical, financial, and any management needs.

            Healthcare charges are surging out of control. Kaiser Permanente has an Integrated Delivery System that delivers the best care at the lowest possible cost. Kaiser Permanente works intensely to keep down cost while also maintaining quality of care. They work with their members to improve lifestyles and maintain wellness. Integrated healthcare systems are found in large multi-specialty medical group practices with transparent pharmacies, labs and hospitals. Kaiser Permanente uses sharing information systems to track the overall healthcare activities of a particular patient. This method is beneficial for the patient because they are able to avoid the hassle of paying co-payments here and there. They offer email and other communication tools between patient and doctor. More importantly, the patient’s personal health record, “My Health Manager” is available online at no extra cost. “My Health Manager” allows the patient to order prescriptions, view their lab

The use of technology will enable patients to track important health information. This can be useful for patients changing primary care providers, meaning the redundant attempts to provide physician offices with past medical history can be eliminated. A discussion of extensive implementation of Electronics Health Records (EHR’s) to create a service for patients is found on HealthIT.gov (Health IT, 2014). As of now only a select few organizations include this service technology and it is called “Blue Button.” This service allows patients to retrieve all medical records through the internet rather than having to visit the medical records office at a local facility. With the inclusion of this service, a broad variety of services including a system wide online patient portal is a possibility to allow patients the ability to connect mobile health monitoring devices, check current prescriptions, and review important blood test results (Health IT, 2014). These tools can be utilized by patients to track and take preventative actions on their health status, but unfortunately not every healthcare organization offers this to its patients. If the inclusion of this type of service becomes a standard in care, patients will gain access to their health records and be able to utilize them through a more convenient effort no matter which provider is seen.

Running a health facility can take a lot of work. As a result, within the age of technology, it seems to be in the best interest of a medical practice to use various electronic programs, such as a medical

In the recent past healthcare reform has been arguably one of the biggest debates in politics in the past 50 years. Healthcare is the United States is extremely expensive and if the country doesn’t explore ways to cut down on costs, the country could be looking at a crisis in the future (Kliff, 2015). One of the biggest issues in healthcare is the inconsistency of the flow of information amongst all healthcare entities. While there is EPIC, CERNER and MAP systems out there, not every hospital system uses these applications or can afford to use them. There should be a way that no matter what electronic medical records software a healthcare facility uses access to a patients records should be possible (Seper, 2012). Immediate action should be taken to create a universal healthcare data system that is able to synthesize information from any electronic medical record system and can

Implementing a new system into a healthcare environment is not a simple process. There are many issues and concerns that will need to be considered, not only the positive adoption by the users of the system, but also ensuring that a new system will positively impact the future of the Mifflin-Dunder Regional Hospital. Often businesses struggle to align their imposed BI system with their business objectives, and results in a system that is unable to meet business needs (Panian 2006). It is imperative that all stakeholders and end users of the system are completely aware of the capabilities of any new imposed system. Madsen (2011) determined that one of the key criteria before implementing and imposing a new solution is to have a cross functional