Security of Health Information - Report Example

Security of Health Information With an increase in technology in today’s world, information technology has taken a pivotal role in various fields. Information technology has brought a huge transformation in the health care industry. Information technology in the field of health care enables administration of the medical information and the secure exchange of information among the health care consumers and the providers. One of the ways in which information technology has influenced the health care industry is the implementation of electronic health records (Harmon, 2007). Hospitals are actually multifaceted organizations within one. Many hospitals offer several healthcare facilities, such as hospitals and clinics, several specialties diagnostic and treatment centers, laboratories connected with training and research, and intricate business functions to administer all of these mechanisms. Because hospitals provide medical care and also conduct research programs, hospitals often have more multifaceted and more niche information systems to maintain new diagnostic and treatment modalities than other organizations (Baron, Fabens, Schiffman, & Wolf, 2005). The Health Information Management System Society’s (HIMSS) defines electronic health records as: “The Electronic Health Record (EHR) is a longitudinal electronic record of patient health information generated by one or more encounters in any care delivery setting. Included in this information are patient demographics, progress notes, problems, medications, vital signs, past medical history, immunizations, laboratory data, and radiology reports. The EHR automates and streamlines the clinicians workflow. The EHR has the ability to generate a complete record of a clinical patient encounter, as well as supporting other care-related activities directly or indirectly via interface—including evidence-based decision support, quality management, and outcomes reporting (Electronic health records overview, 2006).” The computer-based usage of electronic health records is used by health providing institutions that contains health information about the patient from the doctor and other health care providers. Electronic health records can link health care providers with other health providing services. This enables physicians to share the latest information regarding the patients with other institutions along with fast and effortless access to the patients’ tests and hospital information (Jha, DesRoches, Campbell, Donelan, Rao, Ferris, Shields, Rosenbaum, & Blumenthal, 2009). The implementation of electronic health records may result in certain level of resistance from the workforce in the health institutions, basically among the physician. This is because, electronic health records offer instructions to complete certain treatments, therefore, a lot of physicians believe that electronic health record system reduces their independence to practice medicine in ways considered to be right (Badger, Bosch, & Toteja, 2009). Furthermore, it is not simple to persuade experienced healthcare professionals to alter ways familiar to them. Therefore, in order to make it easier, the best method is the psychological concept known as eureka effect which is the natural tendency to react to innovation with interest (Badger, Bosch, & Toteja, 2009). To bring in eureka effect, it is vital to astonish physicians instantly with the benefits of electronic health records (Badger, Bosch, & Toteja, 2009). Another significant issue related to resistance is that the leader of the implementation is extremely important (Badger, Bosch, & Toteja, 2009). To overcome the resistance, the project manager must be someone who is liked by majority of the physicians. The leadership and course of the project manager can encourage the physicians to work harder to appreciate and take up the technology (Badger, Bosch, & Toteja, 2009). Furthermore, the clinicians would be made aware of the advantages and the benefits associated with the implementation of the electronic health records. A number of the guaranteed advantages of electronic healthcare records are in eradicating unnecessary operations, eliminating errors and cutting costs. But one of the other benefits in providing health information to help physicians and other health care workers make improved decisions regarding the patients’ health in real-time (Baron, Fabens, Schiffman, & Wolf, 2005).  Furthermore, extensive storage of data can assist with diagnostic decisions. In this system, the new patients record is synced with the stored data on patients with similar histories to come up with possible diagnoses. By facilitating physicians make more knowledgeable and instant decisions, the electronic health records become more meaningful (Badger, Bosch, & Toteja, 2009). The key advantage of integrated clinical system is that it incorporates the clinical data in the overall operations (Badger, Bosch, & Toteja, 2009). Electronic health records permits management to get hold of information for setting the finances, doctors to observe the progress of treatment, nurses to describe undesirable reactions, and researchers to investigate the usefulness of drugs in patients with diseases. If these experts work in isolation, each will have a partial image of the patient’s situation. Thus, electronic health record put together information to fulfill diverse needs. The objective is to gather data once, then utilize it several times (Electronic health records overview, 2006). There are numerous implications of the implementation of the electronic health records on the healthcare institution. The most common results of electronic health records are enhanced efficiency, increased precision, promptness, accessibility, and output. Therefore, implementation of electronic health records can reinforce the link between patients and clinicians. The promptness and accessibility of the information allows clinicians to make better decisions and offer superior care (Jha, DesRoches, Campbell, Donelan, Rao, Ferris, Shields, Rosenbaum, & Blumenthal, 2009). Since everyone involved in the health care possess accurate information, electronic health records facilitate in lowering the chances of medical errors and help in enhancing the quality of the health care. Furthermore, electronic records facilitate in diminishing replication of tests, decreasing interruptions in treatment, and keeping patients up to date to take improved decisions. Thus, the electronic health records link the patient’s personal health record with the doctor’s electronic health records and share information back and forth (Harmon, 2007). Health care providers in institutions with electronic health records waste less time filling-in information, such as personal information and medical history, because such information is recorded once and stays constant all through the treatment (Harmon, 2007). Furthermore, health care providers have much greater access to other computerized information, superior organization instruments, and alert screens. Alerts are an important facility of electronic health records because alerts recognize drug allergies and other required notifications. In other words, electronic health records have warning systems built in the system to let the doctors know about allergies or potential harms with drug interactions. Furthermore, some electronic health records have medical alerts to remind doctors to carry out certain tests or procedures. Even though, implementation of electronic health records has resulted in the nursing industry undergo a considerable reduction in employees and greater workload but the improvement in efficiency has overshadowed this fact (Badger, Bosch, & Toteja, 2009). To overcome the resistance issues related to the implementation of electronic health records, an environment will be created where change is readily accepted. For this, the clinicians need to prepared beforehand to change some of the conventional methods of capturing data, as the system enforces documentation which was managed manually previously. The key to effective implementation of electronic health records is the participation of individuals who are linked to the system directly. The participation of such individuals will ensure that individuals information requirements are considered and dealt with. Furthermore, the end-users will be offered comprehensive information and knowledge about the how the changes would take place and the impact on the productivity. Communication is the foundation in achieving the confidence of all the individuals involved, therefore, everyone using the system must know about the new system, its goals and the plans for implementation (Harmon, 2007).  Another way in which resistance to electronic health records can be overcome by clinicians is by addressing the issue of training. Quality training can facilitate considerably in decreasing apprehensions about using a new system. The technical and training support during the preliminary implementation would be offered to everyone. Even though, regular meeting will take place regarding the implementation, but the training would aim at the particular concerns of the users rather than nonspecific sessions. The training offered will be of high-quality, directly timed to the point of need, and particularly aimed at the practices staffing and needs. Furthermore, the training would include a practical usage of the new system. High-quality training accomplished more than building skills; it maintains the communication and involvement opportunities. Teams, implementing the system, will need to be realistic in recognizing the time required for the training the clinicians until they can use the system with ease. The productivity will decrease initially for which a plan has to be designed to handle it rather than being overwhelmed by it (Badger, Bosch, & Toteja, 2009). In spite of an agreement that use of health information technology results in more well-organized and superior-quality care, there is issue regarding the security of the information. Because several organizations and individuals have right to use to health information, there is unease about the privacy and confidentiality of health information technology instruments (Harmon, 2007). The concern might be regarding the insurance companies or employers who can utilize information against the patients to refute healthcare treatment or employment (Harmon, 2007). Therefore, to prevent such misconduct with the health information, the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) has established strict rules to safeguard the privacy and confidentiality of the electronic information (Harmon, 2007). HIPAA permits patients rights over their health information and sets rules and restriction on who can look at and receive the health information (Harmon, 2007). The doctors and clinicians need to keep the data private by training the staff on how to use and share information and also take suitable and sensible actions to keep the patients’ health information confidential (Harmon, 2007). On the whole, implementing electronic health records can enable the organization to increase storage capabilities for longer periods of time and allow customized views of information related to the requirements of different professionals on the field of medicine. Thus, electronic health records offers the necessary infrastructure needed to enable the implementation and successful utilization of new healthcare facilities and information management instruments (Electronic health records overview, 2006) References Badger, S. L., Bosch, R. G., & Toteja, P. (2009). Rapid implementation of electronic health records in an academic setting. Journal of Healthcare Information Management, 19(2), 34-40 Baron, R. J., Fabens, E. L., Schiffman, M., & Wolf, E. (2005). Electronic health records: just around the corner? Or over the cliff? Annals of Internal Medicine, 143(3), 222-226 Electronic health records overview. (2006). National Institutes of Health. Retrieved from http://www.ncrr.nih.gov/publications/informatics/ehr.pdf Harmon, K. (2007). Moving forward with electronic health records. Retrieved from http://www.scientificamerican.com/blog/post.cfm?id=moving-forward-with-electronic-heal-2010-02-05 Jha, A. K., DesRoches, C. M., Campbell, E. G., Donelan, K., Rao, S. R., Ferris, T. G., Shields, A., Rosenbaum, S., & Blumenthal, D. (2009). Use of electronic health records in U.S. hospitals. The New England Journal of Medicine, 360(16), 1628-1638 Read More