You have been asked by your health care organization to provide a detailed repor

Question

You have been asked by your health care organization to provide a detailed report on the benefits of implementing a new health information technology system to comply with the current mandates. Develop a report of 10–12 pages detailing how information technology systems can be used to analyze organizational data for a health care organization. This should include types of systems where data may be retrieved and how IT and various applications can be used to aggregate and analyze the data to understand issues, identify root causes, and document progress related to implemented changes, patient progress, quality assurance, and compliance. Make sure to address the following questions: Please answer the following question in 500 word count and please cite all references.

As technology advances, what compliance issues and regulations do health care managers at this organization need to be on top of? Consider the impact of falling behind the technology curve not only in terms of productivity but regulatory compliance. What role do the Affordable Care and Patient Protection Acts have on the implementation and use of technology and electronic health records (EHRs) at this setting?

Explanation / Answer

Health Information Technology

Health Information Technology improves the quality and effectiveness of healthcare; promotes individual and public health; increases the accuracy of diagnoses; prevents medical errors; reduces costs and paperwork; and improves the efficiency of both administrative and clinical processes.

The 3 Main Categories of Healthcare Information Technology

There are three main categories of healthcare information technology that you’ll find in both hospitals and physician offices:

Practice Management

Practice management software automates just about every task that fits under the “health information management” umbrella.

EMR

EMRs replaced paper records by making digital versions of charts and patient histories. They have similar features to business intelligence, in that they can track data over time.

EHR

Electronic health records software, or EHR, is another extremely popular category. As you may have guessed by the name, they have similar functionality to EMRs. An EHR provides health information management in the form of digital health records. The differences from EMR begin, however, by providing a broader view. EHRs include a patient’s history, diagnoses, treatments, medications, allergies, X-rays, test results and more.

The 4 Smaller Categories of Healthcare Information Technology

Patient Portal

Patient portals allow access to just about everything in an EMR and EHR, including their history, treatments, medications, etc.

Scheduling

Scheduling software oftentimes goes hand-in-hand with a patient portal. This allows patients to login to the portal, view their previous treatments, receive an alert that it’s time for a checkup and then schedule it.

Medical Billing

One of the more time-consuming tasks for practices is managing patient billing. Writing up, sending and processing payments takes a lot of time, especially for busy hospitals and practices.

E-Prescribing

One of the last parts of an appointment is sending the patient’s prescription to their pharmacy. In just a few clicks, a prescription is sent, filled and waiting for the patient when they get there. This saves not only your time, but your patients’ as well. Additionally, ePrescribing systems ensure that there’s never a prescription mix up due to, say, poor handwriting (no offense doctors).

Implementing New Health Information Technology

Although health information technology offers many potential benefits, many individuals and institutions have been slow to adopt the technology and use it to its best effect. In some cases the issues are financial, as even with monetary incentives from the federal government, implementing health information technology is very expensive. In others, the problems are technical, such as interfacing different proprietary systems that contain laboratory or medication data into a particular health information technology patient care system.

Interoperability between systems can be a major challenge as well; systems designed for a hospital don’t necessarily work well in outpatient care and vice versa. A laboratory pathologist has different information needs than the cardiologist caring for a hospitalized patient. Another problem is the need to train all users, assure that people use the system correctly and to retrain the staff as new software becomes available.

To choose software and hardware systems and to use health information technology effectively, an organization must be diligent in researching both current and proposed requirements. But despite the initial difficulty in selection and implementation, the resulting efficiency and Release of Information boost is too great to ignore.

Maintaining the HIPAA compliance should always be a key area for leaders in the healthcare industry, but as technology continues to evolve, there are numerous factors coming into play that could affect how organizations keep patient data secure.

The legal perspective on HIPAA regulations and various experts in the field have claimed that “it’s not a matter of if, but a matter of when” a data breach will take place. Recent OCR HIPAA settlements not only show that size is not a factor when it comes to enforcement, but that organizations need to be mindful of everything from physical safeguards to conducting regular risk assessments.

Technical advancements have also proven to be potentially beneficial to covered entities. Whether an organization is looking to implement secure messaging options or potentially invest in cloud storage, privacy and security issues cannot be overlooked.

To better understand how healthcare organizations approach data security and HIPAA regulations, HealtHealth Information TechnologySecurity.com quizzed our readers about their current approach to HIPAA compliance, using mobile technology and secure messaging, and their top pain points.

A comprehensive approach to HIPAA compliance

External data security threats, employee training, and evolving technology were all top concerns cited by respondents when it come difficulties in HIPAA compliance. Thirty-two percent of those surveyed said that external threats to data security were the top issue, while 28 percent listed employee training and evolving technology.

Employee negligence, the evolving regulatory environment, and the evolving threat landscape were also listed as top concerns when it comes to HIPAA compliance.

When it comes to the OCR HIPAA audits, 43 percent of respondents said that technical safeguards were the most difficult aspect. Administrative safeguards were a close second, cited by 39 percent of those surveyed.

Just 5 percent of respondents said that physical safeguards were the most difficult part of preparing for HIPAA audits.

Additionally, several respondents maintained that keeping the necessary documentation prepared for potential HIPAA audits was a top issue. Having a clear understanding of the business associate or vendor’s responsibility in case of a breach was also cited in the survey as a difficulty.

Majority push for data encryption, mobile device management

With the previously mentioned technological push in the healthcare IT environment, it should come as no surprise that the majority of survey respondents said they utilize data encryption.

Eighty-five percent stated that they use data encryption, while just 7 percent said they do not. Additionally, 7 percent of respondents said that while they do not currently utilize data encryption options, they plan to do so soon.

Mobile technology is also becoming a more prominent feature for healthcare organizations. For example, 45 percent of those surveyed said that it was “very important” to their practice. Approximately one-third of respondents said that mobile device usage was “important,” while 12 percent called it “very unimportant.”

In terms of mobile options, mobile device management was also listed by some respondents as an extra security measure implemented to ensure patient data security.

Specifically, 18 percent said MDM was an extra security aspect, while 43 percent listed multi-factor authentication as additional measures to secure patient data. Virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI), anti-virus software, and high-end firewall with DLP technology were also cited as extra security measures

Finding the right balance between innovation and security

Overall, healthcare organizations need to ensure that even as they implement new technologies - such as secure messaging and cloud storage - that they keep privacy and security issues a top priority.

HIPAA regulations are not going to disappear anytime soon, and neither will outsider threats to patient data. Instead, the threats will only likely continue to evolve and become more sophisticated. Whether it comes in the form of a phishing scam or just a third-party hacking into a system, covered entities must deploy comprehensive security plans.

Regular risk assessments and employee training will also be beneficial. Neither small nor large facilities are exempt from federal regulation, and as such, need to implement safeguards that apply to their daily operations.

The healthcare industry is seemingly on the right track in prioritizing privacy and security, even as technical options become more intricate and the healthcare ecosystem more data-centric.

Role on Affordable Care and Patient Protection Acts have on the implementation and use of technology and electronic health records (EHRs).

Coverage - The law has caused a significant reduction in the number and percentage of people without health insurance.

Coverage rate, employer market cost trends, budgetary impact, and income inequality aspects of the Affordable Care Act.

This chart illustrates several aspects of the Affordable Care Act, including number of persons covered, cost before and after subsidies, and public opinion.

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