Oncology Health Care

Individuals interested in the field of health information technology (HIT) are presented with a vast array of HIT related jobs and professions to choose from, many of which are highly specialized, such as the certified tumor registrar (CTR). A cancer registry is a compilation of all cancer related data on all cancer patients, including their demographics, medical histories, diagnostic findings, and follow up assessments. This information provides health care professionals with the necessary data and tools to successfully develop, implement, assess and evaluate current and future treatments and therapies for the overall goal of preventing and controlling cancer (NCRA, 2002). The registry is also a key tool in providing necessary data to

The nurse would have arranged for Mr. Thomas to receive training, so that he is able to transfer his wife safety from the bed to a chair. Educating Mr. Thomas to safely participate in his wife’s care will prevent caregiver and patient injuries and will help Mr. Thomas not rely on paid staff to

An interview with an Assistant Professor at Duke University Health System in the Department of Medicine, Maestro Care Provider Champion and Clinical Content Architect. This physician works to incorporate clinical decision support tools into the electronic health record at Duke Health System. He manages the best practice advisory committee that may provide a way to deploy alerts to clinicians at the point of care. Alerts with order sets and recommended actions are created and updated to notify providers of current patient care guidelines or patient safety concerns.

Throughout this report, the interoperability and communication between departments will be discussed in detail, in order to improve throughput using the current software system, Epic in this case. The goal is optimal patient outcomes using electronic prescribing. A solution will be reviewed utilizing Epic, a standard electronic health record (EHR) involving the HL7 initiatives.

. Jettowyne, (The Compassionate Friends, 2011, November 4), stated, “Friends don’t want to say your child’s name, because they think it will make you feel bad”. Being open and asking or commenting on the child is essential in the healing process and showing support.

Administrative expenses have been seen through time not spent finding, filing, and retrieving patient charts. A reduction in employee time equals less money spent by the employer. Budget savings a seen through elimination of transcription, transferring, and transporting of patient charts. Billing components within EMR packages can provide cost savings through generation of direct billing and reimbursement; this process shows great potential for reduction in billing errors. Errors made during the billing/reimbursement process result in dollars lost or not recovered for the organization, which in turn drives up the cost of healthcare. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services reported (in 2003) that a 10% error rate, regarding payments,

The common goal amongst all healthcare disciplines is for optimal patient outcome. In order for such a goal to be achieved, all healthcare disciplines must integrate interventions/treatment plans and work collectively to provide continuous care. The usual health care members consists of physicians, nurses, pharmacists, respiratory/physical therapists, dieticians and social workers to name a few. Integrating care helps reduce redundancies, lower costs, allow for universal language, and an ability to share information. At the current moment, new technology such as universal EMR systems like EPIC and Cerner for examples, provides for better access to charts so that patients can receive

An Electronic Health Record is a computerized form of a patient’s medical chart. These records allow information to be readily available to authorized providers during a patient’s encounter with the healthcare system. These systems do not only contain medical histories, current medications and insurance information, they also track patients’ diagnoses, treatment plans, immunization dates, allergies, radiology images and lab tests/results (source). The fundamental aspect of EHRs is that they are able to share a patient’s information quickly across service lines and even between different healthcare organizations. Information is at the fingertips of lab techs, primary care physicians, pharmacies, clinics, etc. The

The American Cancer Society is a nationwide, community-based health organization. It was founded as the American Society for the Control of Cancer in 1913 by ten doctors and five people led by Dr. Clement Cleveland in efforts to take the steps to prevent cancer (Eyre). In 1936, Marjorie Illig, a field representative and leader of a women’s public-health committee, suggested the group “wage a war on cancer.” The Women’s Field Army at this time raised money for the group and recruited volunteers (Brawley). The mission statement of the American Cancer Society is dedicated to eliminating cancer, as well as, providing education, research, and service to help prevent cancer and save lives. The American Cancer Society

In a recent report, Cancer care in the United States continues to be a conglomerate of cancer care progress, declining mortality rates, and increasing healthcare costs (American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), 2016). This report further describes how the impact of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has on patients on whether they can afford the medications and treatments needed or not. A projected study in the cost of cancer for 2010 until 2020 was completed using data from the years of 2003 and earlier. This data shows the trends indicating a rise in the survival rates as well as an increase in health care costs due to the increasing numbers of cancer incidence rates (Mariotto, Yabroff, Shao, Feuer, & Brown, 2011). For the year 2020, the

With the costs there also came benefits that included averted costs and increased revenues and then divided up into payer independent benefits, benefits under capitated reimbursement, and benefits under fee-for-service reimbursement (Wang et al., 2003). These were assumed that they would be accrued at the end of the year. In large practices, chart pulling was a time consuming task that was done and cost an approximately $5 to obtain and retrieve this data. After switching to electronic, the transcription costs were reduced by 28%. The experts also looked into capitated reimbursement and reducing adverse drug events. Alternative drug suggestion reminders would save 15% of total drug costs. Also, the computer can improve documentation and also decrease the amount of billing errors.

A CIS is likely to have many benefits, such as reducing medication errors, improving clinical outcomes, and using less space to store information compared to paper-based records (Alajlani, 2017). Moreover, CIS provides healthcare institutions with CDSS that includes many substantial clinical tools, including decision trees, reminders and alerts (ibid). This paper will highlight three advantages of implementing CIS, as follows:

The CHNA identified that 15% of the population will be over 65 years of age within the next five years. 50% of the male population and 33% of the female population are expected to develop cancer during their lifetime. New cancer cases are expected to grow from the current 3,200 to 4,282 in five years. That is an increase of 34%. The CHNA also identified that the existing facilities that prevent, diagnose and treat oncology patients are at a capacity and the facilities and equipment are not keeping pace with growth in patient volume. The CHNA noted the need for additional chemo units, linear accelerators, advanced imaging equipment and operating suites. Patients and health care professionals have voiced concerns that the services are

“When it comes to cancer care, studies suggest that survival rates improve for patients when they are cared for by a multidisciplinary team” (Approach to Care, 2012, p. 1). This quote from the Wilmot Cancer Center’s article on how to approach care with cancer patients sums up two key pieces in approaching cancer care. First is survival. When a patient first hears the word cancer survival is the one thing they want addressed; this identifies the emotional approach to care that is needed. The second key piece is the word team. A cancer patient, much like any patient, does not fit a diagnosis mold and requires input from many disciplines; this identifies the physical approach to care. Care needs to be tailored and customized to fit the patients’ needs. Individualized care is done through multidisciplinary teams that function under the direction of a primary doctor ensuring emotional and physical needs are met. Upon creation of a multidisciplinary team, staff works with patients to form a treatment plan that balances the best outcomes and patients’ consent. It is important the patient agrees with the care plan and the approach set forth by the team in order to ensure maximum compliance. It is also important the patient understands the diagnosis and staging of the cancer

Having a single view of the patient and their treatment and recovery plan is invaluable in ascertaining which are the most and least effective tactics in treatment. The 360-degree view of the patient and the many processes supporting them is crucial for increasing the accuracy, effectiveness and performance of treatment programs over time (Blakeman, 1985). Computerized management systems are critical for organizing, analyzing and translating the massive amount of data captured on patients, treatment and recovery processes, and the use of supporting IT systems to optimize patient health and organizational provider performance (Peshek, Cubera, Gleespen, 2010). The ability to aggregate and intelligently use all available data, information, patient-based and process-generated data to deliver higher levels of quality care is possible when computerized management systems are used throughout healthcare organizations.