The Importance Of A Sound Quality Control Plan Essay

Healthcare systems are highly complex, fragmented, and use multiple information technology systems and vendors who incorporate different standards resulting in inefficiency, waste, and medical errors (Healthinformatics, 2016). A patient 's medical information often gets trapped in silos, which prevents information from being shared with members of the healthcare community (Healthinformatics, 2016). With increasing healthcare costs, a system needed to be created that would lead to the development and nationwide implementation of an interoperable health information technology system to improve the quality and efficiency of healthcare. Introducing the National Health Information Network (NHIN), this organization can be defined as a set of

Quality patient care requires the communication of relevant information between health professionals and/or health systems. Healthcare professionals who regularly work with patients and their confidential medical records should contribute to the development of standards, policies, and laws that protect patient privacy and the confidentiality of health records/information.

There are various legal and ethical aspects of Health Information Management. Government regulations in healthcare continue to make drastic changes. In Healthcare, lawsuits become more and more complex and issues increase. It is important for Health Information managers to have knowledge of healthcare laws.

At the level of the external environment, health information management in itself, as well as the people employed in the adjacent departments, are continually impacted by new standards, regulations and initiatives. The scope of these standards, regulations and initiatives is usually that of increasing the efficiency and quality within the health care system, "o provide a secure, nationwide, interoperable health information infrastructure that will connect providers, consumers, and others involved in supporting health and healthcare" (U.S. Department of Health & Human Services).

Health Information Exchange (HIE) supports both transferring and sharing of health related information that is usually stored in multiple organizations, while maintaining the context and integrity of the information being exchanged (HIE, 2014). The goal of health information exchange is to expedite access to and retrieve clinical data to provide safe efficient, effective, equitable, timelier patient-centered care (HIE, 2014). HIE “provides access and retrieval of patient information to authorized users in order to provide safe, efficient, effective, and timely patient care” (HIE, 2014).

In 2009, the Health Technology for Electronic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) of 1996 was expanded. This expansion included mandated guidelines for health care systems in the Unites States to continue implementing of Electronic Health Records (EHR) in health care settings by 2016 and added a provision to improve protection of patient health information through privacy and security Turk (2015) . The implementation of this program has created a debate in the medical community. In addition, many healthcare organizations and institutions have conducted research studies and surveys to evaluate the effects of the EHR on documentation of care and other aspects of the EHR. Challenges surrounding the HER include, the cost of implementing EHR’s, time spent performing documentation, and patient outcomes and safety and security concerns. Let’s further delve into a few of these challenges.

Information Management is one of the organizational management chapters in the JACHO Accreditation Manual for Hospitals. According to this document, organizations must have well-developed processes for managing of patient data, including, but not limited to, initial recording, retrieving, reporting, and displaying of all patient-related information associated with specific patient care activities1.

AHIMA recognizes that superior quality health care and clinical data are critical resources needed for effective healthcare, and works to assure that the health information used in care, research, and health management is valid, accurate, complete, trustworthy, and timely. This group is concerned about the effective management of health information from all sources and its application in all forms of healthcare and wellness preservation. Health issues, disease, and care quality also transcend across national borders. AHIMA’s professional interest is in the application of best health information management practices when and wherever they are needed. (The American Health Information Management Association, 2010).

It has only been within the last five years that health information management (HIM) has experienced exponential changes, due to the healthcare reform. The electronic health record (EHR) is connected to health information exchanges and other systems of interoperability. The timely completion of charts, coding and release of information (ROI) has become much more efficient with the electronic record. Traditional HIM functions will just be transformed and will always be an integral part of successful patient care. Professionals must be flexible and willing to adapt and even generate change. As Health Information Technology continues to evolve, so will the roles

Medical records are of significant importance to each and every patient. Patients have the right to receive care in a medical facility and not have their procedure of diagnosis released to unauthorized people. Medical facilities must protect the rights of each patient and their confidentiality by law. Records must be maintained accurately so as to respect the patient and not have inaccurate information released to any other provider. For example, it would be catastrophic to an actor’s career if it were to leak that they had human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and in fact they really did not. Other actors or actresses may have performed with them and panic or even bring a law suit against them. It is important that records are maintained accurately

Health Information Exchange is the electronic movement of healthcare information amongst organizations according to the national standards. HIE as it is widely known, serves the purpose of providing a safe, timely, and efficient way of accessing or retrieving patient clinical data. Health Information Exchange allows for doctors, nurses, pharmacists, and other vital healthcare professionals to have appropriate access and securely share vital medical information regarding patient care. Health Information Exchange has been in efforts of developing for over 20 years in the United States. In 1990 the Community Health Management Information Systems (CHMIS) program was formed by the Hartford Foundation to foster a development of a centralized data repository in seven different geographically defined communities. Many of the communities struggled in securing a cost-effective technology with interoperable data sources and gaining political support. In the mid-1990s a similar initiative began known as the Community Health Information Networks (CHINs) with the intention of sharing data between providers in a more cost-effective manner. In 2004, the Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research Health Information Technology Portfolio was funded $166 million in grants and contracts to improve the quality and safety to support more patient-centered care. This was the beginning of the progress we have seen in HIE today. Health Information Exchange devolvement serves the purpose of improving

United States has a long intensive history in the healthcare industry. The health information services has been estimated to be around since 1928. The American College of Surgeons wanted to improve the quality of records that were being created in the clinical settings and still trending today due to new technology advancements of organizing health records. “Health information management is a combination of business, science, and information technology. These professionals are managers: experts in processing, analyzing and reporting information vital to the healthcare industry, respected staff members who interact daily with the clinical and administrative staff, all of whom depend on health information to perform their jobs” (Medical,1). The development of healthcare management as a career has largely pursue the development of medical science and the growth of hospitals in the United States. In the 1920’s healthcare professionals concluded that documenting a

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.

The correlation of increased potential patient rights violations and sensitive personal health data among electronic medical records than paper records is growing at an alarming rate. An estimated 52,000 public comments was reviewed by the Department of Health and Human Services requiring privacy regulations governing individually identifiable health information since the passage of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1966 (HIPPA). The individually identifiable health information includes demographic data that relates to the individuals past, present, or future physical or mental health condition. In addition, the provision of health care rights of the individual, confidentiality, protection of

Inevitably, health information systems (HIS) affect both patient care and documentation. Consider the following scenario. A patient with hypertension schedules routine appointments with his primary care physician. At every appointment, the nurse documents the blood pressure reading along with the most updated list of medications that the patient is currently taking. After