Health Information Management Project: Coppin State Community Health Center - Research Paper Example

HEALTH INFORMATION MANAGEMENT PROJECT An academic tour to Coppin Community Health center leads to the identificationof diverse issues relating to the state of the community. The Health Information Department was surveyed, and all the information was recorded. The following is the break down of the data analysis that the project team obtained. Problem Statement: After a full research what emerges were that records were given a low precedence. The department lacked the consciousness of the significance of satisfactory quality record keeping. Their was a penchant of treating records as an individual rather than patient assets. In addition, there was no synchronization linking paper and electronic information policies and the need to maintain privacy with justifiably free information. This poor quality documentation may be frequent since national attempts at consistency often get deafen by the absolute complication of the patient care (Michelle, 2006, P. 97). Even though, they do not say so openly, it might be incidental that until keeping the high-quality case records begins to matter enough to clinicians; slight general or no reliable adjust can be anticipated. There is a lack of standardized approaches to the documentation that would permit continuous records evaluated requirements, and resultant strategies of health care. Following a number of services, every qualified group is still using separate case remarks, held or kept in diverse places, and not expected to be accessible when needed. The place of storing case records in the practice of local health services might show slight pleasure of their significance. Take a situation where the hospital would like to attend to an emergency patient. The Health information management does this. This office is ten miles far from the scene, and this is where the records are kept. Since there is a lack of an electronic system, the doctors cannot verify easily on the past contact of the patient they are about to interrogate. Local tradition does not make access to any available case record in the health centre. During the operational hours, if it is identified that a case file is available, the medical records physician may be convinced to fax a few of the most current letters stored in the case record. Unfortunately, no such skill would exist. The excellent idea the doctor can then anticipate is that a nurse in the hospital delicate area knows the patient and be able to give some related information. Under such conditions, practice can only be based on guesswork and speculations. Organizational Analysis: Coppin state community health care is a well-organized institution with enough space to house the patients and the students. The Health information department contains three working areas for attending to the patients. The organization’s vision is to see that patient’s care is improved and that the institution is known allover the globe (Donald, 2010, P.345). Their mission is to see that their vision is achieved. The department has laid down the following goals to make sure their vision is achieved. Improvement of quality care: By putting into practice the improved systems, the Healthcare providers get the motivation to lessen reliance on handwritten records and professionally file patient interactions, mechanize communications, track procedures and prescriptions, and offer clinical most excellent practices based on quantifiable knowledge base systems. Networking would therefore, restrain medical errors due to paper-based systems. It would lower patient wait times with quicker and easier workflow. Enhancing productivity and organizational workflow efficiency: Successful healthcare associations rely on the efficiency of caregivers and the efficiency of the personnel. Too often, experienced caregivers use up the majority of their time finishing paperwork instead of attending to patients. Maintaining paper-based accounts can be a vast challenge, as the workforce ought to deal with misplaced charts, replacement records, and records that are not accessible for days or weeks throughout recording. Employing electronic recording would raise the rate of diagnosis and cure, reduce paper work for secretaries and advance caregiver efficiency and optimizes workflow effectiveness. Reduce costs: Healthcare costs are increasing due to inefficiencies of paper-based, physical processes such as expenses for recording, dictated notes, filing, retaining charts and maintenance of record storage space (Michelle, 2006, P.56). Electronic records would reduce paperwork, record filling and retrieval. In addition, it would decrease staffing resulting from improvements in workflow and staffing for chat management. Protect the privacy of patient records: Regulations for patient record confidentiality place rigorous demands on healthcare contributors to care for patient information, while putting into operation electronic methods for sharing with extra caregivers and patients. Networking would provide tough safety to care for patient record information across the fully agitated and wireless environment. Better information and improved communications at the point of care: Often patient records, test results, and other critical information are not accessible when required, and often misplaced, and in some situations, are totally lost. Electronic health records would make sure that patient records, test outcomes and other vital data are accessible when wanted and are not misplaced or lost. It would also assist care givers get enhanced information at the point of concern and allow a supple access to information for itinerant caregivers at the point of assistance. Environmental Analysis: Coppin state health center is a monumental institution of many different buildings and enough space for patients to be attended. The institution has employed enough work forces to make sure that the patient’s needs are met. Messengers have been employed to enhance doctor-to-doctor communication. When a doctor has done tests, and he wishes to share them with other doctors, health care providers and pharmacists, he sends the messenger with the results. Therefore, any physician authorized by the patient will access the patient’s chart with other doctors who are far away (Steven, et al. 2011, P.166). These naturally streamline the process of consultation and improve health care delivery. The organization has also hired vehicles that whenever a long distance communication is required, then it is used. For instance, physicians and other healthcare providers are able to review and complete a medical history of a patient, regardless of the location of either the patient or the provider. At each visit, health care providers update the record; therefore, it does not matter where the record is examined, it will eventually be fixed. Secretaries have also been hired to record information happening in each corner of the institution. Therefore, access to medical histories will be accessible in an exam room, in locations around the hospital, in an emergency room, in doctor’s home or office, or anywhere a secretary is available to enter data. Doctors in emergency rooms frequently have to labor without any patient record at all. Treating a patient with no past reports can be similar as trying to find the way on a country highway in the dark with no headlights. Nevertheless, this section has access to interoperable apparatus that assist them make the correct decisions. Because several patients utilize the emergency room as their utmost care facility, and continuing and reliable treatment for such patients can be complex, an interoperable scheme could ease distress and save lives. Moreover, the efficiency the system offers can assist care providers individualize the experience for the enduring (Dana, 2009, P.56). That will assist doctors and nurses to persuade patients to form associations with healthcare practices and clinics, instead of keeping until a predicament becomes so serious that it calls for emergency treatment. In addition, more work forces have been employed to establish files for patients and keep them up to date. As this entails time for both patient and workforce, more rooms have been left for this function. Time to fill up the forms have to be built into appointment time, even for persistent patients. A patient with a full medical history on file with their physician can make the record accessible to a new physician for discussion or once the patient shifts to a new city. Gap analysis: Coppi state community health care is working to see that the clinical, managerial and societal outcomes are realized. The clinical outcomes are among improving the value of patient’s care, lowering medical errors, and additional improvements in patient-level measures that illustrate the suitability of care. Executive outcomes, alternatively, have incorporated such matters as fiscal and equipped performance, in addition to fulfillment among patients, and clinicians. Lastly, communal outcomes comprise of being able to conduct a research and achieve enhanced population wellbeing. In order to fulfill its dreams, it is upon the Coppi health state care to adopt the use of electronic health records. At present, the paper record signifies massive disintegration of clinical health information. This not only causes the rate of information management to raise, but also its fragmentation leads to even larger expenses because of its undesirable effects on present and future patient concern. Electronic Records have some built in aptitude competence, like identifying abnormal lab results, or possible life intimidating drug connections. Research findings behind analytical tests and the electronic health records can connect the clinician to literature databases, care plans, protocols, pharmaceutical information and additional databases of healthcare acquaintance. As a management tool, the electronic health records can offer information to advance risk management and appraisal results. At present, reimbursement is based on outcomes thus healthcare organizations have to invent ways to improve the value of care and outcomes whereas running costs. An electronic health record can reduce charting time and chart errors, therefore, raising the efficiency of healthcare workers and lessening medical errors because of legible notes. Decrease of medical mistakes is the concern of the community, state legislators, healthcare providers, and various other health experts (Karen, et al. 2009, P.143). There have been many stories about serious mistakes taking place because of unreadable notes written by medical doctors. Electronic health records address a difficulty that has overwhelmed medical workforce since the first doctor put a pencil to a document. Because the handwriting is natural, and, therefore, hard to modify, automated schemes can assist get rid of this difficulty. Even though, some systems may look expensive, the gains in effectiveness far compensate the expenses. Highly paid trained clinicians no longer will be delayed by the look for intangible paper charts, and working outcome information becomes accessible without numerous days of data collection. Financially, the electronic health recording will give correct billing information and will permit the providers of care to present their claims electronically, thus receiving payment faster. The patient is even better off because earlier information is accessible so he does not have to keep on providing similar information repeatedly. REPORT FINDINGS Executive Summary Coppi health state care is an institution operating under the use of filling as a way of keeping records. This has come out to be the problem causing poor quality of patient care and communication in the hospital. To eradicate the problem detected, the use of Electronic Health Record keeping has come out to be a tool for improving the care quality, reducing care differences and improving care results. There are many obstacles to the approval of Electronic health record keeping and its ability to advance transitions of care, as well as barriers to its accomplishment, and utility. While health care department of Coppi have made steps to investigate, appraise, and study diverse approaches to improving health care, extensive adoption of a trustworthy method to advance it is missing (Patricia, 2007, P.49). There is a significant push to accept technology solutions to aid in improving communication all through the health care community. Having Electronic records that communicate past the boundaries of a sole organization or health system is significant to improving care transitions in the prospect. This document assesses the most common advantages to using Electronic health record keeping in improving alterations of care. Because there is small guidance on how to use Electronic health records in ways that particularly improve transitions of care, this project builds upon the general recommendations for improving transitions of care and the public agenda as it transmits to Electronic Health Records, and identifies problems and considerations as they relate to accomplishing overall goals. Purpose of the Project After taking a tour to Coppin health state care to check on the quality of the Health, we concluded that the health care system as at present planned does, not as a whole build the best out of its way of keeping records. There is a small uncertainty that the aging population and the rising patient require new services, like the Electronic ways of keeping records that add to the steady raise in health care efficiency. Many types of therapeutic errors result in the successful call for extra health care services to care for patients who have been injured (Laurinda, 2006, P.69). An extremely fragmented rescue system that lacks the basic, clinical information capabilities fallout in a weakly designed care processes. The processes are distinguished by redundant duplication of services and extensive waiting times and holdups. In addition, there is considerable proof documenting overuse of many services for which the possible danger of harm overshadow the possible benefits. What is perhaps most upsetting is the deficiency of actual progress towards reforming the health care schemes to address both value and cost concerns, or towards relating advances in information expertise to advance organizational and medical processes. Health care in Coppin health center is often fragmented and incompetent. Patients, families and caregivers, are forced to repeat their stories to every new medical expert they encounter. Tests get repeated because medical records are misplaced or out of stock. Doctors, nurses, and other health professionals waste hours on paperwork. This disintegration leaves both patients and clinicians disappointed, and drastically adds to the expenditure of care and it is shatter proofed by payment systems that recompense piecemeal care as a substitute of care conveyed in a flawless, coordinated way. The use of Electronic health care record keeping aspires to change that by focusing on getting rid of patient harms, reducing misuse, and applying advancement in how care is delivered with the aim of ensuring that each patient receives the correct care, at the correct time, in the correct setting, consistently. Cause Analysis After taking a thorough study of how activities run in Coppi state, community health center, we noted with a lot of concern that patient records are stored in a room just opposite the hospital. The hospital additionally cares for many patients over the course of the day. Every patient file has to be handled physically in the handbook, and this frequently results in misfiling and massive misuse of time, when records are positioned. In addition, we noticed that handbooks that accumulate hard copies of patient proceedings need large amounts of space in order to cling to all the records (Lynn, 2001, P.88). This outlay a fabulous deal to the health center, as the room has to be paid for equally in construction and maintenance. Many hand written documents were illegible and caused problems while reading. Many of other members in the health center found it to be hard to interpret vital health instructions and information. Automated records would eradicate such troubles that result from illegibility as writing is clear and matching in spite of which staff affiliate provided the information. Insurance corporations and patients frequently require copies of their records consecutively to make sure the health facility obtains payment. Coppin State Community Health Center does this through sending messengers. In the process, the hard copies could get misplaced (Scott, 2011, P.133) This means that the hospital receives late payment and that the patient is tied up waiting to see if the insurance company will ensure his bill is completed. This means that the hospital needs to employ more workforces and buy more tools to meet the demands of the rising patient population. Quality Improvement Tool After a long run tour to Coppi state, community health center, we noticed that the problem we identified could be fixed without much effort. We interrogated the work force together with the administrators, and they were willing to adapt to the new method of keeping records. Below is a flow chart to illustrate the identified problem. Implementing the use of Electronic Health records would help improve the quality of care, Enhance productivity and organizational workflow efficiency, Protect privacy of patient records, better information and improve communications at the point of care, and Reduce costs. The following is a decision matrix we created to show all the possible quality improvements after implementing the electronic way of keeping records. Decision matrix Criteria weight Alternative 1 Alternative 2 Potential impact on the introduction of health records to the health sate 7 3(x7)=21 4(x7)=28 The speed of implementing the system 6 5(x6)=30 6(x6)=36 Acceptance of the system by the patients and the work force 8 7(x8)=56 9(x8)=72 Negative impact on health state care 2 7(x2)=14 9(x2)=18 Positive impact on health improvements 8 6(x8)=48 6(x8)=48 Benefits to the administration 6 4(x6)=24 7(x6)=42 Totals 37 193 180 Scores 10=high 6=Medium 2=Low The alternatives proof that the implementation is accepted and could be of high benefits to the health state care in Coppi. This is shown by the positive feedbacks given by those interrogated in both the first and the subsequent alternatives. Intervention selection and Feasibility Analysis To get detailed information concerning the problem, we gathered information that could be applied to the project carried in Coppi health center (Marie, et al. 2006, P.79).This data could help us in the feasibility analysis. We would be able to make the decision on the way forward with the project. In addition, the data obtained would clearly depict to us about the feelings and decisions of the workforce and the administration in Coppi health center concerning the teams proposals. Below is a table showing how we collected data and the different opinions we received from them. Method Task Overall Views Conclusions Observation Observed how the use of filling record system worked. Many complains from users as it is quit tiresome and lack of privacy The system needs to be advanced Document Review Inquired how the use of filing as a method of keeping records operate Involve many workforce and spend a lot of time and money This method of keeping records require changes Interview interviewed patients on their privacy of their documents Patients disliked the way their documents were aired as they fail to uphold the privacy the patients called for Patient privacy need to be improved. Questionnaire and identity administered assessment Asked the administrators what they spend in buying paper, pens and files and paying the employers Spend a lot when keeping records and maintaining the workforce There is need to reduce the cost of expenditure. The above data clearly shows that the institution is of the opinion that the use of electronic health records needs to be implemented. Therefore, the project ought to proceed to its implementation stage to bring about advanced changes at Coppi state, community health center. Implications and recommendations Information is an essential asset in the healthcare administration of personal patients and the proficient management of services and resources. It takes a key element in clinical control, service scheduling and performance organization. It is thus vital that information is effectively managed and that proper policies, actions and managerial structures provide a strong governance structure for information and understanding management. (Juliana, et al. 2011, P.45)The state, community health center, should set up and uphold policies and events to make sure that patients are assured that their medical information is taken care of in assurance and not shared improperly. Maintaining a patients privacy is not only a matter of professionalism but it is as well a lawful obligation. Implementation and use of Electronic Health Records will produce immense innovative quantities of business and medical data, which will be additionally correct and enlightening than the data used before implementation. Adoption of the electronic record keeping also calls for fiscal, managerial, and human resources to build and support the comprehensive system. Exclusive of this infrastructure, the aptitude to advance medical decision-making and in particular the quality of care will not be realized. Accomplishment of a new electronic health recording will frequently bring to light and still amplify the accessible organizational issues surrounded by the health center. Complete expertise planning, particularly assuring sufficient organizational communications, developing a tactical plan, conducting a willingness evaluation, and building adequate rooms will facilitate the achievement of successful implementation and maintain the overall goals of health center. 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