project 2

Financial wealth of an economy is one leading factor that supports the growth and development of a nation’s health sector, but, technology happens to be an equal and imperative variable that affect healthcare as well. As much as health and wealth go along, in this modern time, Information Technology in the health sector is a factor that has made it possible for healthcare to grow both in study, research and work management. However, with the rising cases of cybercrime and healthcare problems that are facing many health institutions, it is very vital for any medical/health care facility to up their Information Technology systems at all times and for the staff to be well acquainted with the systems. Therefore, this study shall be focusing on how the health sector is facing a number if challenges that are very much related to the technology side of the health sector, but are also influenced more, by medical challenges that have been in existence (Dingley, 2017).

Medical Problem Overview

First and foremost, the world has been continuously evolving, opening up new markets, activities, problems as well as innovations. In the pharmaceutical sector (both public and private) evolution has come as a development in the medicines used and the level of technology used. Thus, technology has been at the forefront of many if not all medical advancements and is on a rising use by more hospitals and clinics. However, as good and promising as this sounds, many medical centers have been naive when it comes to investing on their Information Technology apparatus, systems and networks (Boulware, Cooper, Ratner…2016).

Technology is being used in the medical sector for record keeping, patient information, financial data keeping as well as medicine admission along with life support systems and other tools. All these open systems create room for violation by hackers in various ways. This problem can lead to the loss of many lives through having the systems infected by a Trojan, malware or virus leading them to function irregularly. An example can is with the morphine injectors that are given commands by the system settings via Wi-Fi if such a system falls to the wrong interface (hacked), it would be impossible to notice until it is too late. The level of cyber security levels in hospital is not very promising and can lead many people to avoid using hospitals due to sheer lack of trust in the system.

Lack of transparency is also a significant pull down to the healthcare area as many of the billing processes appear manipulated for the sole purpose of profit. According to the Leapfrog group, our current medical systems apply the rule of payment for services and products and not the final result, or instead, medical care patience attains at the end of their treatment (De Brantes, D’Andrea & Rosenthal, 2009). Medical systems and practitioners often make a lot of medical mistakes (another problem in medical care). An example of such a case scenario is seen when administrating treatment to patients whereby, a patient is giving wrong medications, and once the health centre realises this, they use extra treatment to correct the error. However, as much as the fault lies on the hospital, the additional charges happen to be laid on the patient nor are they told of the incident. This is a significant problem as it undermines the mission, policy and conduct that bind medical centres to utmost professionalism.

Lastly, avoidable harm caused to patients is the main problem in most of the medical institutions across the county in all states as it is the third leading cause of deaths in the US with more than 500 patients dying in every day because of medical errors both physically and through technology (Binder, 2016, October 26). Negligence is also a leading factor that causes harm to patients as many nurses and doctors opt to neglect Medicare and Medicaid patients and give more care to private patients. This act of negligence goes a very long way into administering wrong prescription or more harm to injuries which should not be the case. It is also common for outpatients to attain treatment with advanced tech systems as compared to the standard patient.

Policy Development and Assurance

In this section of the study, the main overlook will be developing solutions and re-enforcements to the problems that were briefly discussed in the assessment level of the assignment. Therefore, in this segment, this study will take a closer look at the challenges and magnify them to what damage they can cause and in return formulation specific solutions to each.

Overall Problems

As much as the assessment seemed to point out various challenges in health information technology, there are only three significant problems that must be dealt with immediate effect to safeguard the health sector using technology. These marginal problems are as follows:

· Lack of a central Database System

· Poor Cybersecurity

· Poor Network System

It is very common for many health centers to store their information on computers, laptops, and drives. However, this is a hazardous issue as it opens up doors to losing the data much more efficiently and faster. It might be considered safe when it is stored on a device that can only be accessed by a set of personnel, but this is not the case. This is a significant problem as it also limits the ability of doctors to see the necessary information of the patient at once and they need to print out many copies of the data making their work even more difficult. Some medical facilities might be technically developed when it comes to Information Technology, but happen to fail in securing all these technical advancements (Perakslis, 2014).

Specific Problems, Solutions, and Cost

1. Lack of a Central Database System

Solution and Cost

For hospitals and any healthcare, units to be able to secure their information regarding accounts and patient files. It is very advisable to adopt an IT Department that will be tasked with the objective of making sure the company obtains a database management system that fits into their working conditions, commercial space and timeline (K., 2018, June 08).

For this reason, healthcare facilities must purchase or tailor a database system that fits them and their functions. For a small healthcare facility, the billing charges for the database system will cost, $2,000 to $10,000 as for larger healthcare centers that have more flow of patients; they will have to incur a cost of $10,000 to $500,000. As much as this appears to be large sums of money, more of which also needs to be spent on hiring a well acquainted technical team or train the readily available squad, it will also cut back on the health center's expenditure. Expenses such as purchasing more printing paper, expansion of file storage rooms or external hard drives will be a thing of the past.

2. Poor Cybersecurity

Solution and Cost

For a medical institute to set up a proper cybersecurity initiative, it is often best to outsource such services as it brings on the appropriate professionals and also reduces the stress on the management team. This also allows the practitioners and patience to interact without any fear of their data being accessed or having a meltdown during a cyber-intrusion (Perakslis, 2014). As for the cost of such as security system, it usually varies with the service providers. However, it is very worth it as due payments made during and after a breach is even worse. Currently, any violation in a healthcare institution charges $355 per record. This number might appear friendly, but it does not seem so when one looks at the number of medical records that are stored in and by a hospital which reach up to millions of records (Aggan)

3. Poor Network System

Solution and Cost

Similar to cybersecurity, networks can also best be secured by specialized organizations such as Cisco, Google, etc. however, these are not the only organizations that can offer quality protection as many entities that provide excellent protection services and charges. Charges of such services is usually done on an annual, monthly or a quarterly base as per the terms of the agreement/ packages offered. Costs can start from $50 per year to $24,000 per year (K., 2018, January 17).

Interest Group Section

1. A Central Database System

Many jobs might be lost in the file management unit as they will be replaced by the original database setups thus costing them their work. On the other hand, the medics at the various health centers will actively support the database project as they will be able to access a patient's record easier without the struggle of going through mountains of files (D., 2018, October 17).

2. Installed Cybersecurity

As a medical institution relies on patients to keep it afloat, they might only remain that way if the patients approve of the institution's privacy and security status especially when it comes to their records (Perakslis, 2014). On the other hand, some of the governors might feel as if they are offering their privacy for grabs when they welcome a third party into the hospital or clinic to safeguard their medical records. Thus, their might rise the fire of exposure to more risks.

3. Improved Network System

Doctors and Nurses got through many hours in their working lifestyle, and this might become very stressful from time to time. As a means of easing this stress, many doctors and nurses would approve of the upgrade, security and constant maintenance of the networks as it might facilitate the hustle of supervision and monitoring of vital patient rates (Appari & Johnson, 2010). As the network systems will be installed and secured, this might cut the non-medical staff from the central system and group them in their system which will reduce their access to other forms of information. This might not be taken positively by them as they will feel as if they are not part of the medical institution (Saeed, Villarroel, Reisner…, 2011).

Assurance of solutions

Adopting a database system: This can assure a transformation in the organization as it will have reduced its expenses and also reduced the hustle and tassel of document organization as the database will automatically do all that in seconds (K., 2018, June 08).

Outsourcing Cybersecurity and Network Security Detail: Cybersecurity and network security have been combined as they all undertake the same solution of bringing in professionals to perform the specified task and problem the health center is facing. Having an outside party dealing with this dilemma assures the hospital of its safety since any intrusion, infection or data loss that takes place will be charged on the companies and not the health center.

References

Binder, L. (2016, October 26). The Third-Leading Cause Of Death Is Preventable, But Candidates Don't Mention It. Retrieved November 1, 2018, from