Strategic IT Plan: The Walgreens Company - PowerPoint Presentation Example

Running head: STRATEGIC IT PLAN of essay’s assignment is due The acquisition and deployment of Health Information Technology (HIT) throughout the Walgreens Company pharmacies offers a unique opportunity to make substantial progress in improving the health of the population. The direct benefits include: enhanced public health, healthcare cost reduction, access to care, improved healthcare quality and patient safety, and consumer engagement and empowerment. It is vitally important that Walgreens Company pharmacies have a system of connectivity and a strategic vision for the implementation of information technology that will provide for the free exchange of information among the pharmacies throughout the United States. Health Information Technology is a core pillar of the healthcare system. This paper develops a strategy for Walgreens Company pharmacies to achieve an integrated and fully deployed system of Health Information Technology. About the company The Walgreens Company is the largest pharmacy chain in the United States that was founded in 1901 and is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Besides having over 7000 pharmacies in all the 50 states, Walgreens Company has pharmacies in Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia (Bacon, 2004, pp. 12-17). Walgreens Company has retail pharmacies, health and wellness divisions and a health services division that provide pharmacy, goods, services, health and wellness its consumers. Through Walgreens Home Care Inc, Senior Med LLC and Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy LLC, Walgreens Health Services offers medical plans and prescription drugs to pharmacy patients. The Walgreens Company is a pharmacy practice that ensures the effective and safe use of pharmaceutical drugs and links chemical sciences with health sciences. Walgreens Company compounds and dispenses medication, offers clinical services, provides drug information and reviews medications for effectiveness and safety. Being a pharmacy, Walgreens Company is an expert in drug therapy who provides patients with positive health outcomes by optimizing medication use. Core strategies Walgreens Company should ensure that all its pharmacies have access to electronic tools, irrespective of location or financial capacity. Computerization of health records has come slowly to the healthcare industry. However, most health care practitioners have adopted some forms of computerization. It is essential that all Walgreens Company pharmacies adopt, acquire and implement electronic medical records into their operations. This will allow for the eventual sharing of clinical information with patients and their families and across the healthcare system (Berg, 2004, pp. 77-91). Walgreens Company should promote information exchange that enables pharmacies to access and exchange data and clinical information across geographic boundaries. The storage of patient data in an electronic file and use of electronic tools is valuable to pharmacies only if the data is easily retrievable at the point of care, meaningful, can be shared with pharmacies and consumers and can be provided by all entities generating the data. Too often, individual Walgreens Company pharmacies operate within information silos that use systems that include only their own patient data. It is essential that provision of information no matter where the patient seeks care is enabled through efficiently deployed and interoperable interconnectivity. Walgreens Company should develop a framework for engaging and empowering patients from individual pharmacies to participate in their health management and access their health records. By computerizing electronic health records, an important opportunity to engage patients more actively in managing their health will be provided. The internet has a world of medical information available to consumers, yet few Walgreens Company customers can access their own electronic health records through direct electronic access. There is technology that allows for patients to access their personal health records. A transformational opportunity is created when consumers are engaged in the management and maintenance of their health and patient/pharmacy communication is improved. Improved outcomes, improved efficiency of the delivery system, enhanced consumer responsibility for their care and more closely monitored care are among the benefits of engaging customers in managing their health. Walgreens Company should while identify and promote the benefits of sharing clinical information between pharmacies while supporting a privacy standard that protects patient health information. Maintaining the public trust and protecting patient privacy is a critical element to the optimal utilization of an electronic records system and successful deployment and the appropriate exchange of patient data. Enabling the transfer of clinical information must be balanced with this protection in order to improve patient outcomes and clinical quality. In order to complete the privacy picture both patient education and provider efforts must take place. Opportunity statement for Walgreens Company At its core, Health Information Technology efforts are about providing Walgreens Company’s patients with a high quality, safe, consumer-friendly, and cost-effective healthcare system. The potential benefits of Health Information Technology to both the healthcare system and consumers present a compelling list of reasons for a focused and coordinated initiative that will prioritize and organize steps to providing for maximum utilization of limited financial resources and achieving this. One of the benefits is patient safety and improved healthcare quality. According to the World Health Organization, medical errors result in more than 100,000 deaths annually in the United States. Countless other medical errors occur that do not necessarily result in deaths. Inadequate information available to the pharmacists, such as medication history, is the main reason for these errors. Through adherence to scientifically proven treatment guidelines and protocols additionally results in possible higher quality patient care. Essential and efficient management of operational processes and information is a benefit of information technology deployment (Berg, 2004, pp. 73-91). There are significant benefits to the health of the population through integration of public health information systems with clinical information systems with. Efforts such as epidemiological studies, determination of populations who would benefit from or require public health programs and syndromic surveillance can be supported by Health Information Technology. One of the key drivers for investment in Health Information Technology is to assist in reducing healthcare costs, primarily through reducing duplication and increasing operating efficiencies. Enhancing health coverage information and access to patient demographic, the elimination of files and paper records, ending manual transmission of prescriptions, and transmission of problem lists, radiology results and lab results electronically can all improve care as well as increase operating efficiencies. Cost of care increases from the need for re-ordering procedures and tests. This cost is reduced when clinical information is made availability at the point of care. Telehealth and telemedicine technologies are tools that can be used in the provision of care to populations where there is unavailability of specific medical services. Currently, are being provided through the use of these technologies to some communities in Walgreens Company. With appropriate reimbursement and improvement in telecommunications infrastructure, telehealth and telemedicine technologies that provide communities with radiology, behavioral health, home health and dermatology and services continue to proliferate. Consumer engagement and empowerment are a direct result of a Health Information System. The consumers need access to quality clinical information in order for them to become engaged. This access can be through information delivered by a health plan or a patient portal to their electronic health records. Health system transparency, telehealth, Payment reform, disease registries, quality and outcomes reporting, patient centered medical homes, public health disease surveillance and improved care management are all examples of efforts that are dependent on all pharmacies having access to technology. The potential of these efforts will not be fully realized without Health Information Technology investment. As much as the healthcare industry as a whole has made notable technological investments for clinical, diagnostic and treatment purposes, there has been relatively slow adoption of health information technology as a health management tool. It has only been in the last decade that deployment and adoption of electronic medical records have seen substantial investments. Many of Walgreens Company’s pharmacies have made significant investment in Health Information Technology. These investments serve a vital and foundational role in the company’s efforts to increase Health Information Technology adoption, and eventually to achieve advanced levels of Health Information Technology. While much has been accomplished by Walgreens Company pharmacies to acquire, implement and share Health Information Technology at the point of care, there is no consensus or nationwide view or on how to interconnect these systems to provide for the electronic flow of patient information from one pharmacy to another. There are significant gaps in the level that information technology has been adopted among pharmacies based on location, size and financial capacity. There is a consensus in the healthcare industry that Health Information Technology must be advanced in the most effective and efficient manner possible. The case for health information technology and investment Health Information Technology has the promise of addressing multiple issues within Walgreens Company’s pharmacies. Increasingly, pharmacies are moving to a system of haves and have-nots with regard to purchasing and implementing Health Information Technology. The larger, multi-specialty practices, community health centers and integrated delivery systems have the critical mass needed in purchasing, implementing and maintaining electronic medical records and ePrescribing platforms (Glaser, 2002, pp. 98-112). Many other providers have also made investments in forms of telehealth such as home health monitoring technology. Smaller private practices are have a more difficult time when it comes to choosing, implementing, and paying for systems as the systems are expensive and technology purchasing is not their core business. There is a significant opportunity for Health Information Technology adoption in home care, nursing homes, community behavioral health centers and specialty practices. Simply having limited technology, such as Electronic Medical Records, is not sufficient. The technology must be implemented in a manner such that consistency is maintained across the Walgreens pharmacies and the technology has functionality and interoperability. There is much work to be done by Walgreens Company’s pharmacies integrate internal operating and clinical systems. An example is the integration of Walgreens Company’s pharmacies inpatient clinical system with the outpatient Electronic Medical Records platform. According to Bacon (2004, pp. 46-62), Walgreens Company pharmacy patients move freely across states. 17 percent of care to Walgreens Company customers is delivered outside of the pharmacies while between 29 percent and 69 percent of the customers who go to Walgreens Company pharmacies leave their communities for care. Additionally, some Walgreens Company pharmacies serve significant numbers of out-of-state customers. This requires coordination with out-of-state pharmacies. This movement of customers necessitates solutions for improved information flow across borders and care communities so that patients’ full medical records will accompany the patients within the marketplace. As articulated by the Walgreens Company Telehealth Program, there is significant opportunity in Walgreens Company to further advance the deployment of telehealth technologies. These technologies store and forward technologies, home health monitoring and video conferencing. However, dependable and adequate reimbursement from payers is an issue that needs resolution. The deployment of telehealth technologies will improve the distribution of scarce resources and improve the quality of medical care delivered to rural areas. The Walgreens Company has multiple IT systems that require updating and consolidating. There is a distinct opportunity for Walgreens Company to expand their existing platform. It is important to note that Walgreens Company, as a whole, has made significant strides in adoption of Health Information Technology. However, there is wide variation in the rate of adoption and level of investment based upon size of individual pharmacies, financial and human resources, geographic location and access to capital. There is need to close this gap between the “haves and the have nots” to assure equal access for all Walgreens Company customers to an optimal system of care. There are policy and market actions that can be taken to complement and support current pharmacy investments in Health Information Technology. Policy actions may include Executive Orders, Medicaid reimbursement, legislative actions, medical management policies and purchasing practices for local and state employee health benefit plans. A concept for statewide functionality should be developed to provide for the interconnectivity of disparate Health Information Technology systems. Although many pharmacies currently exchange necessary patient information, there is no coordinated approach or effort underway to develop and implement a statewide network. While recognizing the importance of the Health Information Technology to Walgreens Company, two main options exist for implementation. The first option is a state-level entity and the second option is an interlinked pharmacies. State-level interconnectivity will result from both options. Having interlinked pharmacies will readily recognize the investments that have been made by local pharmacies to date. Whether initially state-level or not, successful implementation requires many things to be successful: privacy, a high level of participation by practitioners, interoperability standards, the development and maintenance of a patient and pharmacy record locator service, sufficient capital for development and sustainability of infrastructure and adopting a governance structure that supports the operations. Multiple efforts will need to be linked together so as to benefit all geographic areas where Walgreens Company pharmacies are located. While Walgreens Company is not currently bound to federal mandates regarding Health Information Technology implementation, it would be prudent for Walgreens Company to make investments that align strategically with the federal vision. It is also anticipated in future years, additional federal funding may be available, depending on the current and near term federal fiscal crises resolutions (Glaser, J. (2002, pp. 123-144). Privacy and security The successful deployment of Health Information Technology depends on healthcare privacy and security. Multiple aspects of privacy and security are governed by state legislation and the existing national legislation such as CFR 42 Part 2 and HIPAA. Entities such as the United States Centers for Disease Control, the National Governors Association and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services are all working to address the era of electronic health information and the implications of privacy and security as well as creating recommendations for policy makers. The protection of personal healthcare information in Health Information Technology is of significant importance. Patient consent is important to have electronic information sharing among pharmacies. It is critical to realize the benefits of Health Information Technology to the patients and the Walgreens Company pharmacies. The process for managing patient consent and development of a common consent form for all Walgreens Company pharmacies is an important step. A balance needs to exist between the ability to exchange clinical information and patient privacy to improve patient outcomes and clinical quality. Finding the proper balance between improving patient health and protecting patient privacy through the timely exchange of information will require an open and full constant vigilance and public discussion. Conclusion The effort and cost associated with raising all Walgreens Company pharmacies to an acceptable level of Health Information Technology adoption and then the creation of a network of electronic connectivity is significant. There are many impediments and barriers to be overcome. However, the long-term benefits to the patients of Walgreens Company that result from reduced medical errors, improved quality of care, improved consultation among pharmacies, improved communication, reduced duplication of tests, increased access by patients to their medical records, enhanced office and work flow efficiencies, and increased participation by patients in the management and care of their health far outweigh the cost of the investing in Health Information Management. If a healthcare system is to be shaped for patients that is efficient, cost effective, provides high quality and superior outcomes, accessible and patient focused, Walgreens Company pharmacies must make the collective efforts in developing, acquiring and implementing systems of information technology and exchange that are adaptive to change, robust and visionary. References Bacon, J. (2004). Americas corner store: Walgreens prescription for success. John Wiley and Sons. Berg, M. (2004). Health information management: Integrating information technology in health care work. Routledge. Glaser, J. (2002). The strategic application of information technology in health care organizations. 2nd ed. John Wiley and Sons. Read More