Information Management - Essay Example

Information Management Topic: Technology is increasingly portable and available outside health care organizations but is especially problematic for acute care hospital. Introduction The Healthcare sector in recent times is facing huge challenges to provide quality services to patients around the world. Data shows that by 2051, 40% of Europe will have people older than 65 years (Colesca, 2009). With this ageing population demanding access to affordable quality services, it has become very important for health care organizations to change their approach to treating patients who are old or those who might be suffering from acute chronic diseases. It is not so much the treatment part, but the manner in which this treatment is managed forms the crux of the debate on information management in healthcare. Safety of the patient has become paramount, and it has become very necessary for hospitals to streamline the volume of health information regarding a patient so as to present it in a manner that is efficient for the doctor to carry out an effective diagnosis (Colesca, 2009). To develop an ideal information management, health software would require the integration of data’s ranging from blood reports, CT scans, surgical reports, inputs from nurses, social workers, medicine companies, insurance companies and other administrative data (Hunt et al., 1998). Improving the information management and its flow from so many different sources would also lead to considerable increase in efficiency for the health care sector and also effectively help in controlling costs and minimize errors. Use of communication & technology in healthcare services and its advantages While the IT industry with its portability and efficiency has made rapid entry into other sectors like airline, finance and banking, its foray into the health care sector has been comparatively limited. Part of the reason is that health care organizations are a bit reluctant to invest money in technology to streamline information. An ideal information management should successfully integrate project management, IT management and change management (Coplan, 2012). Source: Coplan, 2012, p. 82. To start with, analysts have identified a number of areas in the health care sector which could have information and communication technology applications. 1. Electronic Patient Record Electronic patient record as the name suggests is a complete record of a patient’s medical history, the treatments undergone, medications taken, specific kind of allergies if any, details of immunization and other laboratory reports (Norris, 2002). This kind of data would obviously help the doctor in taking an informed decision and also prescribe medicines that would be in tune with the patient’s metabolism. Source: Gorman et al., 2008, p.14. The availability of this kind of data would no doubt be useful; however, what is being debated is the amount of data that should cover this record since the more the volume of data is, the more the cost of enacting it would be. However, electronic information management has major advantages when comparing it with the traditional method of keeping paper files of patient’s records which require lot of space, involve transportation costs, misinterpretation of handwritten comments made by doctor and also have lack of patient privacy. Estimates show that when the entire information has been changed to digital mode it would lead to savings of 140 billion dollars every year (Coplan, 2012). 2. Decision Support Tools Software systems that that provide medical database for health care providers to tap into and access up to date information regarding medical practices around the world are an effective way of providing informed medical opinions (Colesca, 2009). This kind of structured medical information helps the doctors to weigh all the pros and cons before taking a judgement. 3. e-infrastructure tools The only way that information management can be seamlessly blended with healthcare is if technology plays a more important part. Hospital physicians or Office physicians generally are reluctant in taking up this technology due to their belief that a large amount of patient input data would have to be filled which would otherwise consume a lot of time in their busy schedule. The doctors of the older generation, on the other hand, are a bit hesitant in accepting this new technology. Apart from the traditional areas of technology in information management of patient health, there are other areas of health care where communication technology is set to play a vital part. Authentication of medicines, checking whether medicines stocks and medical implants are beyond the expiry date, and also applications in the blood bank are some of the other areas where use of technology in information management is being envisaged (Gartner Group, 1998). There is lot of future interest in wireless microsystems or microchips which could be worn by patients with acute diseases. This would transmit real time health status to the medical facility which would be able to monitor and frequently check for any signs of distress while the patient rests in the comforts of his or her home. 4. Telemedicine This includes telesurgery which facilitates doctors sitting at remote locations to perform path breaking surgeries with the use of robotic arms. Further videoconferencing with other specialized doctors and ability to have online access to X-rays, CT scans and MRI scans make it possible to have easy and quick referrals with other doctors (Burney et al., 2010). 5. mHealth mHealth is another increasing field of healthcare service using IT which provides prompt, quality health care service with the use of mobile technology. An efficient broadband connection of 3G and 4G means the infrastructure is in place; one only needs to upgrade and cater it to the health care industry (Manos, 2010). Source: UNF, 2009, p. 10. 6. Public Health Another advantage taking the government’s point of view is the possibility of quickly assessing its ability to contain outbreaks of contagious diseases, identify and locate reoccurrence of any particular disease like polio which have been eradicated or simply studying diabetic patterns across section of the society across different regions as these could easily be assimilated with a structured electronic database (Memel et al., 2001). Disadvantages to synergising information technology management and healthcare Converting a traditionally run hospital and investing in IT calls for a major push in investment. Hospitals are indecisive whether to go for a total overhaul of the entire information system or go in for a new clinical instrument like a scanner or an imager which would actually provide more tangible revenue since it is directly linked to the patient (Bates and Gawande, 2003). Data shows that the industrial average of the amount of money hospitals have spent on upgrading information management is 2 to 3%. Consultants have tabulated that approximately 8 million dollars would be needed in upgrading a 500 bed hospital (Medpac, 2004). Since such a lot of patient information needed to be secure, the HIPAA privacy and security systems needs to be incorporated into the software. This has also blown up the costs considerably. Apart from the cost, other disadvantages include creating an entire process overhaul to implement the new IT system and also providing training to both existing and new staff on operating these services. Synergising work flow between different departments is also an onerous task and careful planning needs to be done to avoid bottlenecking. However, the major obstruction to hospitals being upgraded has come from the doctors themselves. Cedars-Sinai Medical Center located at Los Angeles had initially planned to shore up its information management system, but it backed out due to strong doctor resentment as they felt it would only add to their existing workload (Medpac, 2004). Unlike incorporating a new process into a mechanical or chemical system where the process could be shut down for while, the health care service is one sector which cannot be stopped temporarily as patients are being treated around the clock. The new hospitals that have come up have to a certain extent managed to incorporate these facets. Older hospitals that have a significant number of doctors in their workforce have also begun this process of implementation. Another disadvantage with developing such software that facilitate information management is unlike banking or airlines sector where the number of variables can be limited - a health information software would require the programmer to be not only conversant in software, but also in the medical aspects of the human body. Totally doing away with the hard copy records also throws a severe challenge upon the information management software to be robust in countering online hacking and system breakdowns of any kind since this would lead to significant loss of data which would be irretrievable (Burney et al., 2010). Results from surveys carried out in hospitals that had incorporated information management software’s show that they were not totally satisfied with the end result, and the tall claims of improving efficiency have not exactly translated to the tangible profits on the ground (Balas and Boren, 2000). Components of an ideal Information management software in health care. Several competing companies have brought out different models of information management software’s which makes it very difficult for a health care provider to choose. This is because unless the software is put into the actual working of the medical and administrative flow, its success cannot be determined. Ideally, this software should have the following: a. It should be innovative in concept with solutions being provided for all departments. b. Information strewn about within all departments has to be unified into a single entity that is accessible to all authorized personnel. c. It should be capable of integrating different PACS (Picture archive and communication systems) to allow access to different departments (Gartner Group, 1998). d. The software needs to be written within the standard platforms of the medical industry. e. In built logical cogs should be able to weed out useless data and remove it since presence of unwanted data leads to consumption of precious space (Balas and Boren, 2000). f. The software should be simple to operate capable of lowering the cost of maintenance and storage. g. The software should ideally be written in a modular format to allow room for expansion in the future (Gartner Group, 1998). An Information Management Model Source: Berg, 2004, Routine Health Management Services, p. 142. The figure shown above would be a basic model of information management software with its keen sectors like a. The care segment which deal with the initial electronic entry and its management. b. The care facilitation is the support this model would provide to its various process centres like laboratory, pharmacy, radiology, etc. (Berg, 2004). c. Integrated planning aims to synergise this information across all departments. d. Patient administration deals with collecting patient information about contacts and other financial indexes. e. The billing section deals with creating the invoices for the patients and also other medical apparatus being procured by the hospital. f. The research section aims at promoting an environment and platform for carrying out advanced studies. g. Health care education to the new personnel is another aspect to this module. h. Office automation of other administrative sections is also in priority. i. The operational management deals with aspects of finance and human resource (Berg, 2004). j. Lastly, the data warehouse and management information deals with streamlining and making the data more effective for use. Conclusion Information management with appropriate use of communication technologies is slowly being deployed in health care sectors, like in US; the leading ten hospitals have integrated the HP Exstream software which combines data from radiology, pathology, cardiology, surgery, lab and other such departments to bring out a customized health record for the patient (Hickel, 2010). The Management Sciences for Health have also managed to synergise the Information for Management Unit (INFORM), the Rational Drug Management Program (RPM) Unit and the Health Reform and Financing Unit (HRFU) in bringing out quality information management programs (MSH, 2005). However, this is not enough, and the government needs to raise awareness of information management to both the patient and health service provider, pool in large scale investments into this sector, provide educational and employment opportunities and also should lead the way in promoting low cost but efficient health services. 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Gorman Paul et al, 2008, Barriers and drivers of health information technology use for the elderly, chronically ill and undeserved, Evidence Report/ Technology assessment Number 175, pp.1-55 8. Hickel Randy, 2010, Managing information effectively: a necessity for healthcare providers, Economist Intelligence Unit, pp 1-8 9. Hunt D.L et al, 1998, Effects of computer based clinical decision support systems on physician performance and patient outcomes: a systemic review, Journal of the American Medical Association 280 no 15, p.p 1339-1346. 10. Manos D,2010, IT chief: mHealth moving forward faster than expected, Healthcare IT News, [online], Available at http:// www.healthcareitnews.com/print/2096, [Accessed on 12th November, 2012] 11. Medpac, 2004, Information technology in healthcare, Report to the Congress: New Approaches in Medicare, p.p 157-177. 12. 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