Long Term Care Health Informatics Implementation Aspects - Coursework Example

? Full Paper Table of Contents Contents 3 2 Introduction 3 3 Scope 6 4 Case Study 6 5 Long Term Care Health Informatics Implementation Aspects 11 6 Conclusion 14 1 Abstract In this report we will discuss and review current trends with regards to long term healthcare. Moreover, current long term care practices, healthcare services and benefits accomplished by integrating information technology. Furthermore, deployment for acquiring health informatics and challenges associated with IT-enabled long term care are also discussed in detail. 2 Introduction A poet, philosopher and an artist of an early 20th century named Khalil Gibran, who lived in a pre-computer era, stated that (Pasupathy 18-21) “A little knowledge that acts is worth infinitely more than much knowledge that is idle”. It is surprising that he is concerned about the knowledge management systems in the 20th century. However, this idea has become more useful if this statement is meditative in the long-term care industry. In addition, by computerizing long-term care industry a massive enhancement has been noticed. But long-term care institutions still require a lot more knowledge associated with technology in order to enhance nursing homes, progress through administration techniques, improve the medical processes and gain knowledge associated with system management (Pasupathy 18-21). The administrator of a nursing home must understand the core objective of management system and the purpose of long-term care organizations before procuring, executing and promoting these systems, as it will consequently aid in understanding the characteristics and features of the system (Pasupathy 18-21). The national director of the primary care for the condition of long-term patients in England, David Colin-Thome state that: “Delivering improvements for people with long term conditions aren’t just about treating illness, it’s about delivering personalized, responsive, holistic care in the full context of how people live their lives. Our journey to achieve this has started, our challenge is to continue to take it forward and the evidence compels us to do this” (Bradbury 309-314). A reliable delivery of services is provided to the patients exclusively while ensuring the proper care regarding the patient’s health and patient’s life. It is made possible by the sound knowledge in health care that locate a new direction in the field of health and social care system. A 24-hours care support has been established by the NHS that provides full support to the patients, as well as to the public keeping in mind the concept of primary self-care. However, the NHS must maintain the acquisition of new technologies and innovative working practices to facilitate people with long term conditions to live a healthy life (Robinson 9-12). Likewise, health services are provided to the patients via national ICT infrastructure that is designed to support multi-channel services in order to provide 24/7 constant recommendations and knowledge regarding self-management and the management of long-term health conditions (Bradbury 309-314). Moreover, many patients find it difficult on how to find adequate solutions related to any health condition or how to contact their regular care service providers in late working hours or in some cases after working hours. In 2004, the problem has been aggravated for several patients due to out-of-hours (OOH) services (Bradbury 309-314). The NHS direct has made this possible for patients to get reliable and useful information through any medium such as telephone, internet, digital TV (DiTV). In addition, NHS Direct is continuously providing sound knowledge to spread awareness among the patients (Bradbury 309-314). A number of communities are using different technologies such as, point-of-care (POC) documentation and financial software, as mentioned in a long-term living trend survey ('Long-Term Living's Survey of Technology Usage', 65-65). In that survey it was concluded that the latest technology acquisition will facilitate the organization to deliver services efficiently and effectively. Following are the names of the latest technologies that are used by healthcare organizational staff such as administrators, executives and staff members ('Long-Term Living's Survey of Technology Usage', 65-65): Financial software used by 72%. Clinical software used by 57%. Safety technology used by 50% Apart from the mentioned staff, resident monitoring and vendor management staff and others are also included. Moreover, the physical fitness or the rehabilitation technologies incorporate management associated with material and supplies along with POC documentation that is used by 32% ('Long-Term Living's Survey of Technology Usage', 65-65). Another survey that is based on the implementation of electronic health records shows that about 31% of the patients are using electronic health records (EHRs) ('Long-Term Living's Survey of Technology Usage', 65-65). Overall 33% of the patients are planning to implement and the remaining 18% are still considering about EHRs ('Long-Term Living's Survey of Technology Usage', 65-65). The other technologies that are also in used but not included in the top list are ('Long-Term Living's Survey of Technology Usage', 65-65): Telemedicine/telehealth. Brain fitness. Property management software. Asset tracking software. Business intelligence. One more survey revealed that about 44% will be implementing, adapting or improving their electronic health records (EHRs) while eMAR systems will be upgraded by another 41% ('Long-Term Living's Survey of Technology Usage', 65-65). Moreover, 28% will be acquiring clinical applications, whereas 25% will deploy or promote systems associated with paper work. Furthermore, other associated technologies will be updated within upcoming 12 months. These technologies will incorporate resident behavior, material management, business intelligence applications, asset tracking etc. Long term care is a separate domain that specifically addresses patient care in a long run by utilizing information technology to keep track and monitor health conditions of the patients rest in bed. Moreover, there is a requirement of integrating communication technologies, computational technologies with the long term care health services. We will discuss all the technologies and services involved and what advantages are derived from them to the patients. A review of technology in long term care will illustrate benefits as well as challenges. The ultimate goal is to make once health better and to improve health care services for the long term care patients. 3 Scope As patients suffering from diabetes, obesity and heart problems requires a continuous tracking mechanism that will monitor blood sugar levels, heart rates etc. The scope of the project is to address information technology that will enhance the practices of standard nursing procedures in terms of providing health care services on a constant basis to the patients. Likewise, the idea is to provide uninterrupted health services via different devices, tools and communication technologies to save one’s life by delivering health services on time. 4 Case Study The protection of assets and data regarding personnel services and systems related to the Kingdom Hospital are managed appropriately. The Kingdom Hospital has exclusive necessities for instance, medical devices, wireless devices, tablets, workstations and blackberries etc. in fact, the HIPAA i.e. Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act and Privacy Act requirements are not recently satisfied. In order to ensure the protection against the threats to the personal data, integrity, available assets and records, the information assurance policy must be addressed appropriately (Donahue and Rahman 97-109). This is also necessary for the hospitals to portray updated security routines that satisfied the entire hospital network from thefts. Moreover, the financial, legal and health care facilities must be updated in order to provide better facilities to the clients. For this reason, an individual research has been done that helps in understanding the entire hospital’s network including remote clinics, wireless security systems, physical security systems and security related to the hospital (Donahue and Rahman 97-109). Initially, the network security assessment was implemented on the Kingdom enterprise Hospital. The areas that are covered in this research are physical security systems as, well as operating rooms, maternity wards and morgue rooms. In order to find the perfect balance among the security and hospital operational functionalities, the critical International Journal of Network Security and Its Applications (IJNSA) conduct a research on September 2012. Unfortunately, security limitations can be identified in the following areas for example (Donahue and Rahman 97-109): Shared network accounts: are those utilized by a common username and password. Therefore, this can increase the chance of security risk. Weak authentication: network access can be achieved by the hackers due to the weak password complexity system. This is because a network user accounts only demand for a username and a simple password. HIPAA Compliance: the policy lacks deployment of compliance HIPAA Regulations. Acceptable use policy: in order to communicate the users must provide an acceptable behavior while using network resources for instance, internet, email and social networking websites. This will lower the security risks such as viruses, malware and data loss. 4.1 Vulnerabilities Identified A research is conducted that reveals a number of risks and threats that can harm the hospital’s network security completely. In fact, these threats can cause kingdom hospital the following damages (Donahue and Rahman 97-109): Financial Loss: an attacker can attack the Kingdom Hospital’s network thus resulting in the financial loss. Loss of Reputation: the success of Kingdom Hospital depends on its good reputation among the customers, patients and community. Therefore, attack or breach of Denial of Service (DOS) leads towards the compromise over personal or sensitive information of the patients. Thus, it will result in loss of faithful customers and reduction in confidence of the patients in Kingdom Hospital. Legal Consequences: if any sensitive or confidential data or information is hacked or destroyed by the attacker, the Kingdom Hospital must face the legal consequences. 4.2 Enterprise Network Risks Identified An assessment on security risk is conducted that reveals that a large number of risks are identified related to the software and hardware of hospital’s network is mentioned below (Donahue and Rahman 97-109): Software security: the updates of software’s are not implemented in time. Social media: the careless use of several social media websites may lead towards the risk. In order to control these irresponsible use different measures must be adopted by the Kingdom hospital network. Malware/Virus: no controls or measures are implemented for the users that are utilizing internet or email services within the Kingdom hospital networks in order to prevent any virus or malwares. Mobile/Wireless devices: in order to protect the wireless network from unauthorized devices or dangerous individuals, no measures are adopted. Firewall/IDS: from the hostile attack, no controls are available regarding firewalls or IDS in order to protect the home network. 4.3 Security Requirements In order to ensure the security of the patients, employees and other visitors of the hospital, several securities needed must be fulfilled. For this reason, Kingdom’s risk assessment has been accomplished that will help to protect the hospital’s assets, financial information, reputation and personal data. These are the following security requirements that are identified (Donahue and Rahman 97-109): Natural disasters: the Kingdom hospital is located in the Mississippi therefore disasters such as hurricanes and tropical storms are a real threat to the network security. In order to overcome this situation the business continuity plan/disaster recovery plan must be reviewed after every three months. HIPAA Compliance: the loss of personnel or confidential data of the patients are a real threat that needs to be addressed carefully. In fact, we have to make sure that the Personal Identification Information (PII), Protected Health Information (PHI) and Electronic Health Records (EHR) must be protected. Therefore, in order to provide protection all the security measures must be checked and I place to monitor emails and other security measures. Facility: another important aspect is to provide continuous electrical power and air conditioning in order to manage critical servers and other lifesaving equipment. To achieve this goal power generating systems are fully checked and tested to avoid HVAC loss. Insider threat: These types of threat pose a major risk onto the network security intentionally or unintentionally. The risks include malware, virus or compromise of sensitive data. To avoid the insider threat, training should be provided to all the employees and measures must be adopted to monitor network abnormalities. 4.4 Security Training Policy The training policy includes the awareness programs. This is considered as an initial and the most important factor of the Kingdom’s security. The reason behind this initial stage is to provide potential security for the end users. In fact, the IA ensures that the employees of the Kingdom hospital should obtain and preserve the standard level related to the IA policies. Therefore, an initial Information Training Course is introduced for all the individuals. The main idea is to learn and understand different concepts and fundamental principles that help to ensure the integrity, privacy and availability of Kingdom Hospital resources and assets. Here is the list of items that should be included in this training program (Donahue and Rahman 97-109): Identifying unsafe email or attachments. Identifying and evading unsafe websites. Emails that contain sensitive information must be encrypted by the users. Auditing and monitoring policy. 5 Long Term Care Health Informatics Implementation Aspects In order to ensure the safety and the effectiveness of the technology as there are certain aspects that need to be addressed. These aspects are illustrated below : All the technologies that are in use must be listed. A maintenance program must be developed. Training programs must be introduced to the technologies that being implemented in the organization. Provision of adequate training for new users and monitoring of all users to ensure compliance with best practices, standards and procedures. A comprehensive review of all the technology utilized by healthcare services to ensure value delivery. However, replacements can be made where necessary. Performing system audits to evaluate system performance, alignment, and effectiveness, compliance with policy, effective documentation, violation logs, recommendations and replacements of ineffective controls, procedures and guidelines. User acceptance is another critical aspect of incorporating healthcare with IT. Satisfaction surveys can be carried out to judge the level of user acceptance among users. Moreover, feedback forms will provide opportunity to gain suggestions from end users for system improvement. Furthermore, questions regarding training issues along with any new requirement of tools are also discussed. 5.1 Challenges As there are numerous advantages for long term health integrated with health IT, there are some challenges as well. The prospective to control the technology in order to transform Americans age is quite genuine. In fact, in the coming years several legal and social aspects should be taken under consideration in order to understand clearly about long-term health. The implementing cost of this technology limits its deployment and consumption widely. As a result, the number of patients pays heavily to the health insurance as, well as to the health care professionals without any endorsement of improved care or protective care. Hence, the insurer has realized that by implementing the latest technology an enhanced care management as well as, reduced cost can be obtained. On the contrary, implementing cost of latest technology must be defaulted to the patients or the service providers. Moreover, technology associated with health such as ventilators, monitoring devices and wheelchairs are manufactured and designed to sustain or improve the life of the patient. Apart from these advantages, they can also result in stigmatization and social exclusion in the patients. The implementation of latest technologies such as, an Electronic Health Record (EHR) in a nursing home can be expensive. In addition, it depends upon the several factors such as the product, the size of the nursing home and the functionalities of the system. However, cost related to the system upgrades and ongoing operational cost is high even after paying the initial cost. The pass on hospital or any health care provider charge the facility cost from the patients in order to provide the information in the community. Likewise, an additional cost is charged with the patients using the full facilities in the form of membership fee. However, the cost related to the EHRs will lower down as the cloud computing is developing as a result; electronic systems will become more affordable. The tele-health technology also needs a huge investment in the beginning whereas, health organizations such as, Medicare encourage the patients to utilize tele-health services. The remote monitoring service is only provided by tele-health as the element of their treatment procedure. In addition, tele-health technology is more effective and cost saving as compare to the other health providers. Although, the entire Medicare authorized organizations do not use this technology. This is because the devices for remote monitoring are much expensive. The cost related to acquiring these devices is much higher due to the advancement in technologies for example the potential of Smartphones and the competition in many organizations. The CMS have verified that the cost related to the implementation of latest technologies can be restored. In previous years computer systems and the technologies were only used for limited purposes in long-term health care. However, in modern days technology related to the long-term health care must be managed properly in order to get the most of it. The cost related to the implementation must be managed carefully in order to facilitate patients, clients and other who needs care or support. An additional cost is required in order to hire staff members that can maintain and use the technology and helps to provide better health care services to the patients. The set of laws and the recent performance states that the fully designed, planned and recognized care must be provided to the clients. In addition, the care that is being provided to the patients must be safe, effective and accurate. This will include the wander alarms, fall alarms, out-of-bed alarms, call systems, automatic medication dispenser and others for the patients and residents safety and security. The above mentioned resources must be managed properly and needs a better action plan to make good use of the resources. The long-term care is provided by the nurses, professional health care providers, social workers, physicians and others to the people. In fact, a number of issues related to the health care can be solved with the help of the technologies such as, MDS, RUCs, QIs, OASIS, QIS and RAPs. The bills must be collected via electronic machines in order to get on time payments but still there are not enough resources to utilize this technology. The change is expected because the laws regarding the healthcare technology implementation are changing frequently, that will bring many solutions and fulfill numerous needs that are still not satisfied. The factor that is controlled by the organizations is to select the correct technology to get the most of it. 5.2 Methods We have comprehensive stated systematically, the current technological acquisition and usage of these long term care information technology services in the United States and United Kingdom. All the statistical figures were quoted directly from journals, articles and case studies carried out by researcher in this domain. 6 Conclusion In the recent years, Information Technology in the Healthcare has been devastatingly increased. This change has provided an ability to the Healthcare sector to perform well. It is also beneficial for the patients who are looking for better care. However, new threats and weaknesses are also introduced along with the Information systems implementation in the Healthcare sector. Moreover, it is very difficult to overcome new threats and challenges that are faced by the healthcare professionals and patients, but with the help of properly developed and organized IA program it is possible for the healthcare professionals to overcome these threats. The main purpose is to understand the objectives and goals of that organization prior to implementation of the security controls, patients care and business goals. In fact, these goals can be achieved while understanding the risks that are identified during risk assessment and aim to reduce those risks to an acceptable level. In U.S. the Department of Health and Human Services constructed a website that provides information regarding medical ID theft and consist Office of Inspector General’s list of Most Wanted Health Care Fugitives (OIG). It is essential for an organization to never underestimate the employees. in addition, proper training must be provided to the users in order to overcome any situation like it is mentioned in The Naval Intelligence motto “In GOD we trust, all others we monitor “required by the health care staff. This may result in funding and the subsidiary of the government of the respected country. Work Cited Bradbury, Pam. 'Improving Care for Patients with Long-Term Conditions through the use of Technology', Journal of Care Services Management, vol. 2/no. 4, (2008), pp. 309-314. Donahue, Kimmarie, and Syed (Shawon) M. Rahman. 'Healthcare it: Is Your Information at Risk?', International Journal of Network Security & its Applications, vol. 4/no. 5, (2012), pp. 97-109. 'Long-Term Living's Survey of Technology Usage', Long-Term Living: For the Continuing Care Professional, vol. 61/no. 7, (2012), pp. 65-65. Pasupathy, Kandasamy "Pasu". 'Knowledge Management in Long-Term Care: What You Need to Know', Nursing Homes: Long Term Care Management, vol. 55/no. 7, (2006), pp. 18-21. Robinson, Francesca. 'Incentivising Wellness for Long-Term Conditions', Practice Nurse, vol. 41/no. 6, (2011), pp. 9-12. Read More