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Major Sections
Site Map
Health Management
Business Intelligence
___________ Parent Pages
___________ Sections Under this Page
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Introduction
This site will have two sections...at least...of the Benefits of an Healthcare Information System. This section, the first section, will discuss the functions/benefits of any system and in general are derived from good Business practices. We continuously stress in this site that anything done with a computer can be done manually...it just takes a lot longer. It is how you use Information that is important. The Benefit section under our InHCc Healthcare Management Information System (InHCc HMIS) discus those issues that "Our HMIS" has that make our system unique...in today's market. We tried to avoid duplication. We have set our HMIS apart from the competition by emphasizing that it is a "Management" System. Not only is it an Information systems that collects and manipulate Data...but also we provide the Management. Information TechnologyInformation technology (IT) can transform how an organization achieves its mission. Moreover, it can enable radical and fundamental change in business processes. It is these changes that provide the benefits...not the duplication of existing processes. IT provides the tools to collect and manipulate data for the management of information, knowledge and processes. Public Health is also being reinvented with new challenges and opportunities in the core functions of assessment, policy development, and assurance of health services and protection of health for all. Detecting health events and assessing health status trends in populations in a timely, comprehensive, reliable, and cost-effective manner is only possible through IT. While we talk about Public Health as distinct from "Hospital" care...they are the same. A good healthcare organization should know their community in order to better market their product. InterestingA little jab at the competition. Have you ever notices when reading the brochures of Healthcare IT companies that they seen to list the benefits of “their system” as
But then they never get around to telling you how! Looking at many of the "benefits" that are promulgated by healthcare information system vendors for their system makes you wonder why bother...and people wonder why they are not being used more in the Healthcare Industry? First, Health Information systems (HIS) have with rare exceptions paid for themselves by duplicating existing manual procedures....and as far as "communication" between healthcare professions...have these vendors really forgotten about the telephone, fax or email. And I have even seen one vendor list "save paper" as a reason to use their system! I will assume that this vendor does not consider the cost of IT equipment and training very important...and "greater safety"...If the healthcare worker did what they were suppose to do, there would be no need for emphasis on "greater safety".
Again, Information Systems are being used for the duplication of processes...not that it is not needed...but what we really need is the development of new processes. Important Benefits
The goal of Healthcare Research is to MEASURE Success. Without this ability...we would more than likely still be "bleeding" our patients when they had a high fever! This section will analyze both the good and not so good benefits of a "Good" Health Information System. In addition, many of the benefits have their own complete section. A good EHR properly "designed" and "used" can transform healthcare processes in many ways. Data collected from many encounters with the client constitute the raw material of research and otherwise unattainable intelligence about the health status of large groups of people and what's succeeding or failing in efforts to deliver care more effectively (CCHIT)
The following are a short list of benefits from a good Healthcare Information System.
Not So Important BenefitsIf we are going to discuss the Benefits in this section, it is also important to discuss what are NOT important Benefits.Do things the way that Physicians are use to doing them. The first of these NOT so Important Benefits is the designing of a system in order to "Do things the way the Physicians are use to doing". First, there are no two physicians that practice the same way...and Secondly, from examining the processes of Physicians...they certain are not efficient or effective when it comes to providing for good healthcare for their clients... No two physicians think the same way and what doctors think depends on where they went to school, who their professors were, the culture where they first practices, and how lazy they are. And it is especially true that the way physician practice in the US is different that England and different than in Cuba. It is also true that most physicians today have never used an Health management system and an electronic system is NOT a paper based system. Doing things the way they have always been done is not a good use to any IT system. What is important is designing "Efficient" and "Effective" process. Change. The greatest Barrier to the Adoption of a IT system, is NOT the costs of the system but rather the challenge of Change. People do not like doing things differently, making changes, and they certainly do not like being "Monitored and Evaluated"! "It is disruptive"....well, maybe it should be disruptive if the current processes need to be changed to make them more efficient and effective. Being disruptive is NEVER a reason not to make changes. Physician Order Entry (CPOE). The Physician Order Entry (CPOE) system is described as improving the accuracy of orders and provides clinical decision support so that most common medical errors are avoided. Let up look at this closely...."the accuracy of orders"...now just exactly what does this mean..."accurate" ...It does not mean "better" or efficient or effective...I give up...you tell me. Now |
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