Discuss about the Impact of IT in Healthcare Sector.
Mostashari (2014) opined that the health information technology involves with the plan, development, formation as well as protection of the information systems for the industry of the healthcare. The automated healthcare information systems are predictable to lower the costs, develop the efficiency as well as decrease errors to provide with better services as well as consumer cares (Kapoor and Kleinbart 2012). Due to the threat over the patient data breaches, the new technology is initiated such as mobile health devices, updating of the IT associated with the incentive programs that approve the heath IT system.
The report is based on the importance of IT within the healthcare sector as well as its requirements of the IT. It also reflects on the use and benefits with its advantages of IT within the healthcare sector. Apart from this, some risks are also occurred within the healthcare sector due to the use of information technology. It also processes to maintain as well as monitor the use of information technology.
Need of IT in healthcare sector
Health Information Technology is needed to handle protected health information (PHI) that is subject to the Health Insurance Portability as well as Accountability Act Privacy Rule. This rule gives access to the PHI as well as defends the privacy of the information by preventive access to further parties (Alali and Salim 2013). The healthcare industry is unique in their ways it creates economic opportunities and achievements. The following are the areas where the needs of IT within the healthcare sector:
1. Electronic patient records includes central data repository of information of patient’s available to the healthcare providers.
2. Electronic scheduling of the appointments for hospitals is available to refer to general practitioners (Dua 2012).
3. E-prescribing permits electronic prescriptions filled by the physicians to pursue both the pharmacy as well as prescription costing authority to administer the payments (Rahman 2012).
4. Improvement over the communications networks in order to facilitate communication across the National Health Service (Lammassaari and Hiltunen 2015).
Importance of IT in the healthcare sector
Recent advances in the IT helps to enable the providers to recover the superiority of the patient care. The patient care exploits the new tools as well as information that the systems offer while continuing over the patient centric approach. The software supports the procedures of core medical as well as hardware permits easy access to information (Sarnikar and Murphy 2012). With increasing investment in the modern IT systems, the organization improves the healthcare for the patients. With the help of IT, the doctors can communicate with their patients as well as other doctors. Therefore, it helps to stay the patients healthy (Reina et al. 2012). As the medical staffs as well as patients are the heart of the healthcare sector, then it continues to be heart of the healthcare.
With the increasing adoption of the IT, the healthcare IT continues to entire stage of care that the patients within the region can assistance (Yang, Kankanhalli and Chandran 2015). Using the software, it provides with easy access to the information at the point of care and the hardware allows the communication of data across the facilities as well as assembles the access points (Carlucci and Schiuma 2012). It facilitates with condition of improved care of patients by the providers of healthcare. With the development of IT, the decisions should be better informed.
Requirement of IT into the business
Information technology has the potential to give the doctors as well as providers of the medical care to give an entire picture of the patients in front of them. Then, the patients can provide an easier way to access the complete record of medical (Lammassaari and Hiltunen 2015). The promotion of the heath II is done by e prescribing, e-transactions as well as medical set of code. It is the solution to give the healthcare entities in order to keep the cost of implementation down. The most vital challenge for the IT health is the cost. The providers are expected to bear the cost of implementation as well as savings accrue to others (Saltenberger et al. 2015). The other requirement of the IT is to protect the privacy of the patients. Within the database, the confidential information of the patients is stored electronically.
Cost: IT enables the healthcare providers to reduce the operating cost as it automates the work to make the data analysis easier as well as within short time (Kapoor and Kleinbart 2012).
Planning: The doctors with the use of information technology shares information with the patients over the internet so that they can take important decisions about the healthcare.
Designing: Information technology designs the electronic systems to protect the valuable records of the patients (Dua 2012).
Equipments: With the use of IT, the healthcare providers can access to various equipments such as electronic heath records, decision support system, bar coding, radio frequency identification etc (icarehealth.com.au 2015).
Installation: With the IT systems, the providers can easily access to the electronic network, such that they can access the internet from the home (Sarnikar and Murphy 2012). This accessibility increases the profitability of the healthcare sectors.
Training: Proper training is given to the healthcare providers so that they can easily use the new technology healthcare tools.
With the use of IT, the heath care sectors will get accurate as well as complete information about the health of the patients. The service providers give possible care during the medical emergency (Kapoor and Kleinbart 2012). The doctors with the use of information technology shares information with the patients over the internet so that they can take important decisions about the healthcare. The following are the technologies that are used in the information technology within the healthcare sectors:
Electronic Health Record: It records all the data of the patients from various sources. It also records the healthcare data of the patients (Johnson 2013). It is a part of automated order entry as well as a patient tracking system provides with real time access to the data of the patients.
Decision Support System: It provides the physicians as well as nurses with real time treatment suggestions (Spagnoletti 2013). It consists of wide varieties of technologies ranges from simple alerts to full clinical pathways as well as protocols.
Computerized provider order entry: It is a medication ordering as well as execution system consists of the lab orders, discharges, referrals etc.
Bar coding: An optical scanner is used to capture the information as well as data encoded on the product (Johnson 2013). It is used for the purpose of medication such as matching drugs to the patients by using the bar codes on the medications as well as patients.
Radio Frequency Identification: Using a wireless communication system, the technology tracks the patients throughout the hospital, tracking of medication.
Picture achieving and communication systems: It captures as well as integrates the images of diagnostic as well as radiological from the devices such as X-ray, MRI etc. It disseminates the medical records and clinical data repository (Saltenberger et al. 2015).
The following are the benefits and advantages of IT within the healthcare sector:
Protect the data of the patients: Information technology gives better access to the patient’s data by providing access to the data only to the authorized person.
Reduce the operational cost: IT eliminates the data wastes and then mines the data storage (Joo 2012). The cost relates to the healthcare professionals, medical, equipments of lab are reduced. Accessibility enables the healthcare providers to reduce the costs that are associated with the duplicating tests since the provider’s access to perform the test results.
Improve over the gross margin: The balance scorecard improves the gross margin of the healthcare sector using various IT as well as analytical tools that satisfy with the services of the patients (icarehealth.com.au 2015).
Reduce the human and medical error: The information system supports the healthcare system by exchanging over the medical information of the patients (Reina et al. 2012). The details of the patients are entered into the system without any chances of medical error. Not only has that it improved the doctor’s performance, it improves the requirements of the medical equipments (Yang, Kankanhalli and Chandran 2015). Clerical activities such as remainders of appointment, notification of laboratory results are handled electronically results into reduction of human errors.
Improve over the satisfaction level of the patients: The patients are satisfied with increasing the accountability among the healthcare service providers (Joo 2012). All the clinicians are aware of the past as well as current medical histories when various healthcare providers treat the patients.
Privacy and security risks: Privacy and security risks occurs due to the hackers, theft, stolen of the patient’s data and unauthorized access of the data.
Installation risk: Installation of the healthcare information technology within the healthcare sector is more complicated than installation of the software on the computer connected to the internet (Reina et al. 2012). If the records of the patients contain any error, then the system stores the error data into it.
Poor quality of the data: When the information of the patient is delivered into another system, that time the process may be hamper due to wrong delivery of the reports (Mathew and Pillai 2015). Then, it hampers the entire information technology solutions and hampers the trust of the heathcare professionals.
Poor usability of the information system: It prompts the error that threatens the productivity of the patients, loss of profitability and makes disappointment understand the quality advantages of health data innovation. The framework is not easy to incorporate and give the best data prompts for decision-making (Yang, Kankanhalli and Chandran 2015). Hence, if the information technology device that is executed has the absence of ease of use, then it is not ready to show the information that helps with settling on the vital choice. The result is that it is a costly undertaking that produces little value to the information.
Process to maintain and monitor the IT
The healthcare providers are required to monitor the hardware as well as software assets with complete detailing of the reports contains details of information technology devices as well as software on the network (Sarnikar and Murphy 2012). Firstly, security IT monitoring is required to secure the hardware of the system and mitigate the security risks before it exploits to vulnerabilities. Secondly, the automated system IT monitoring is required to monitor the system to make sure that the hardware is functioning normally (Lammassaari and Hiltunen 2015). Thirdly, backup IT monitoring is required to protect the data secured. It monitors the backup of the system as well as the issues are resolved.
1. Training should be given to the healthcare providers so that they can handle the system more efficiently.
2. The management should use of strategic plan to increase the use of information technology within the healthcare sectors.
3. The healthcare providers should use of proper security as well as privacy techniques to protect the data as well as information of the patients.
Conclusion
It is concluded that IT within the healthcare sectors give significant benefits to their business operations by improving over the risks to make the business successful. In order to increase the satisfaction level of the patients, it is required to make IT strategic operations. It is required that the healthcare providers should hire more and more IT professionals to deal with the IT issues of the company. It is also observed that the doctors with the use of information technology shares information with the patients over the internet so that they can take important decisions about the healthcare. The medical staffs as well as patients are the heart of the healthcare sector, therefore in the future further implementation is required. The providers are expected to bear the cost of implementation as well as savings accrue to others. The other requirement of the IT is to protect the privacy of the patients.
References
Alali, H. and Salim, J., 2013. Virtual Communities of Practice Success Model to Support Knowledge Sharing behaviour in Healthcare Sector. Procedia Technology, 11, pp.176-183.
Carlucci, D. and Schiuma, G., 2012. Assessing and Managing Organizational Climate in Healthcare Organizations. International Journal of Information Systems in the Service Sector, 4(4), pp.49-61.
Dua, S., 2012. Information systems, technology and management. Berlin: Springer.
icarehealth.com.au, 2015. icarehealth. [online] www. icarehealth.com.au. Available at: https://www.icarehealth.com.au/blog/category/sucess-stories/ [Accessed 2 Jun. 2016].
Johnson, M., 2013. Buy-side barriers to e-business technology in the healthcare sector. International Journal of Healthcare Technology and Management, 14(1/2), p.110.
Joo, M., 2012. Wellness Information System for Smart Healthcare. JAITC, 2(2).
Kapoor, B. and Kleinbart, M., 2012. Building an Integrated Patient Information System for a Healthcare Network. Journal of Cases on Information Technology, 14(2), pp.27-41.
Lammassaari, M. and Hiltunen, E., 2015. Change in the Finnish healthcare: managerial sensemaking in the private sector. International Journal of Services Technology and Management, 21(1/2/3), p.5.
Mathew, P.S. and Pillai, A.S., 2015, March. Big Data solutions in Healthcare: Problems and perspectives. In Innovations in Information, Embedded and Communication Systems (ICIIECS), 2015 International Conference on (pp. 1-6). IEEE.
Mostashari, F., 2014. Health information technology and Healthcare. Healthcare, 2(1), pp.1-2.
Rahman, H., 2012. Knowledge and technologies in innovative information systems. Berlin: Springer.
Reina, R., Cetani, T., Lacroce, A. and Ventura, M., 2012. A Healthcare Project. International Journal of Information Systems in the Service Sector, 4(4), pp.1-19.
Saltenberger, J., Li, Y., Tsou, M. and Bahramzi, S., 2015. Web GIS as a useful tool for the health and social service sector. International Journal of Healthcare Technology and Management, 15(1), p.58.
Sarnikar, S. and Murphy, M., 2012. A Usability Analysis Framework for Healthcare Information Technology. International Journal of Technology Diffusion, 3(4), pp.20-28.
Spagnoletti, P., 2013. Organizational change and information systems. Berlin: Springer.
Yang, Y., Kankanhalli, A. and Chandran, S., 2015. A stage model of information technology in healthcare. Health Technol., 5(1), pp.1-11.
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