Computer sciences and Information technology

Computer sciences and Information technology
Over the past several decades, healthcare and information technology have undergone a period of dramatic change caused by a multitude of pressures and opportunities, many of which continue to persist and evolve today. In the Journal of American Health Information Management Association, Paul Wing and Edward Salsberg (2002), describe several significant factors that have and will continue to dramatically influence healthcare systems and the discipline of health informatics. These trends and factors include:
Module 1 – Case
History of Health Informatics
Introduction Background Information Case assignment Session Long Project Objectives

Over the past several decades, healthcare and information technology have undergone a period of dramatic change caused by a multitude of pressures and opportunities, many of which continue to persist and evolve today. In the Journal of American Health Information Management Association, Paul Wing and Edward Salsberg (2002), describe several significant factors that have and will continue to dramatically influence healthcare systems and the discipline of health informatics. These trends and factors include:

Ongoing Cost Control Pressure – Cost containment will further current trends toward flatter organizations and substitution of lower-paid workers in both clinical and administrative positions. Driven primarily by concerns about escalating costs, provider organizations will continue to “re-engineer” the work force to deliver services more efficiently.

Growing Use of Data Systems to Monitor Programs and Services – Continued concerns about the quality and outcomes of care will drive the introduction of bigger and faster computers and more sophisticated software to track patients and the care they receive. This is likely to have major impacts on HIM workers in a variety of settings.

Increasingly Complex Treatments and Technologies – There is no end in sight to efforts to improve treatment protocols for all kinds of illnesses and impairments. Clinical researchers are working hard to develop new tools and processes. All of these will bring new classifications, codes, and procedures for monitoring costs, outcomes, and effectiveness.

More Data on Patients and Treatments – As patient record systems become more comprehensive and reliable, the volume of data collected will continue to grow. This will create a host of privacy and confidentiality concerns. It will also create opportunities for a wide range of data analysis and applied research.

Aging of the Population – Although the main impact of the aging of the population will not be felt for two decades or more, the growth of the population 85 years old and older will continue to strain nursing homes, home health, and other components of the long-term care system.

Proliferation of Pharmaceuticals – The investments of pharmaceutical houses in developing new drugs are continuing at a rapid pace, and it is reasonable to expect that the number of new drugs and therapies entering the marketplace over the next decade will accelerate dramatically. This proliferation will create needs and opportunities for new systems and protocols for tracking drug interactions, efficacy, and costs that could become an important part of HIM in the future.

Increasingly Effective Diagnostic Tools – Scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs are working to design and bring to market a host of new diagnostic tools and tests. This should result in more accurate diagnosis of illnesses and injuries, and presumably more timely and appropriate treatments. They will also require additional attention in HIM systems and protocols, including processing, storage, retrieval, assessment, and security.

Increased Information Exchange Among Independent Healthcare Organizations – The complexity of diagnostic and treatment protocols will be matched in the future by increasingly complex organizational structures and information systems. If current preferences for functional specialization in healthcare continue, it is easy to imagine the emergence of a host of smaller service bureaus, laboratories, and companies to provide specialized services to larger, mainstream care providers. This service delivery model will bring with it tremendous demands on information and telecommunication systems. It will also greatly increase opportunities for data “leakage” at the seams between organizations and systems, and corresponding concerns about privacy and confidentiality of patient data.

Increasingly Powerful PDAs – The introduction of personal digital assistants (PDAs) into the healthcare system seems certain to accelerate in the future, especially if effective voice recognition and wireless data transmission systems are incorporated. These tools are becoming effective bridges between direct care workers and the large mainframe or distributed computing systems in which patient records are maintained and processed. They will provide multiple paths to access medical records for both data entry and retrieval tasks.

New Information Technologies – PDAs are just the beginning of new information technologies that will affect both healthcare and IT. Among the technologies we expect to see in the future are new imaging devices, voice recognition systems, new identification technologies (e.g., retinal scanning), bedside monitoring systems, new telemetry systems, and expert coding systems. Each of these could reshape different aspects of HIM.

Movement Toward Paperless Records – Paperless medical records are one of the holy grails of information technology. Although not all healthcare facilities will achieve this goal in the coming decade, significant progress is expected. This will create important issues and opportunities related to coding and privacy, both of which are important topics for HIM administrators and technicians.

CASE ASSIGNMENT

Prepare and submit a paper responding to the following items:

Carefully review each factor outlined above. Use the online library, Internet and other resources to survey articles, discussions and overviews of healthcare system initiatives (planned, in progress or completed) that are relevant to these and other factors.

Based on your findings, write a scholarly essay that clearly addresses the following:

Discuss the impact of the growing use of data systems to monitor programs and services and an increase in the exchange of information among independent healthcare organizations on today’s health information systems. Discuss what lead to this trend. Discuss whether this trend is only a fad or will result in significant changes in health information systems.
Identify and discuss three characteristics of good quality data. How would these quality indicators be used by a healthcare organization? What role would IT play in ensuring good quality data

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