HISTORY OF HEALTH INFORMATION SYSTEMS - Essay Example

Health Information Systems This essay aims to address the following objectives to define health informatics and describe the function of health information system, 2) to identify and explain three trends and factors having the most significant influence on health information system, and 3) to identify affected health care disciplines based on selected trends and factors. Health Information Systems The health care delivery system is facing the rapidly changing technology. Globalization and emergence of high-technology, large-scale computing systems, the health informatics together with the health information system, must be updated and changed quickly.

Health informatics is defined as “a combination of computer science, information science and health science designed to assist in the management and processing of data, information and knowledge to support healthcare and healthcare delivery” (Conrick, 2006, p. 4). Meanwhile, the health information system (HIS) is a subsystem of a health care organization (e.g. hospital, healthcare network) that is responsible in the processing and storing of information (Winter, 2011, p. 1). Healthcare system and health informatics are influenced by several factors.

Three of the most influential factors are ongoing cost control pressure, more data on patients and treatments, and new information technologies. The ongoing cost control pressure involves cost containment and is driven primarily by concerns about escalating costs spent on information processing. In 2006, the annual budget healthcare institutions spend on information and communication technology ranges between 2.5% to 3.3%, depending on the number of beds (Winter, 2011, p. 5). In comparison with the non-computer-based institution, hospitals with computer-based system have to invest a large portion of their budget for maintenance of the system.

Therefore, cost is an important factor in a health information system and is considered significantly for national economy. The health information system offers more data on patients and treatments. Traditional technologies used in documentation such as file folders are physically limited and very restrictive in terms of security and accessibility (Tan, 2010, p. 7). Health records can only be kept to the attending clinician and may not be accessible to other clinicians or even to the patients themselves.

With the new health information system technology such as wearable devices and embedded chips, accessibility is possible even after years have passed (Tan, 2010, p. 7). These major trends in the field of healthcare allows large volume of data to be stored and will eventually of help to different applied researches and data analysis. The third most important factor in a health information system is the embedded new technologies. New advances in health informatics had brought us the electronic health records (EHR) and personal health records (PHR).

The new technology offered by health information system is also responsible for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), computed tomography scan (CT-Scan), and other areas of medical signal and image processing (Winter, 2011, p. 8). All of these diagnostic tools would have not been made possible without improvements in information processing, methodology, and technology. With the advances made in healthcare setting, new imaging devices or expert coding systems are even possible in the future. But in line with the advances made in health information system and technologies are dilemmas concerning health disciplines.

Since investing on computerized-health information system will add additional budget for the institutions, similarly, recipient of care will also suffer from this cost escalation. The patient has the right to have efficient and affordable care but with hospital’s increasing expenditures, the patient will either face the risk of receiving inefficient care or not having access to health services because of issues in affordability. Meanwhile, the easy accessibility of patient’s data as well as new technologies may pose conflict with privacy and confidentiality as new technologies are often invasive and the health information system’s data storage made patients’ records accessible and available for future applied researches.

References: Conrick, M. (2006). Introduction to Health Informatics. Health Informatics Transforming Healthcare with Technology (p. 2-10) Australia: Cengage Learning. Tan, J.K. (2010). Health Management Information Systems: A Managerial Perspective. Adaptive Health Management Information Systems Concepts, Cases, and Practical Applications (3rd ed.) (p. 3-8) Massachusetts: Jones and Bartlett Publishers, LLC. Winter, A., Haux, R., Ammenwerth, E., Brigl, B., Hellrung, N. & Jahn, F. (2011). Health Institutions and Information Processing.

Health Information Systems Architectures and Strategies (2nd ed.) (p. 1-11) New York: Springer-Verlag London Limited.