ASSIGNMENT 1&2
ONE: Featherfall Medical Center
The 1920's Featherwall Consulting, physicians began to realize that documentation not only helped their patients, but it also helped themselves with their practice. The downfall of documenting everything on paper was that it was limited to the facility in which it created, and over time, legibility of procedures and results could become difficult. Flipping through paper charts is not only time consuming, but it could be potentially dangerous as papers could smoothly go missing, and incorrect treatment for a patient could occur. Medical records are now available electronically available for accessibility at all times and thus reduce healthcare personals countless hours of going through paper charts. Times can be assigned to treat patients effectively as lab results are available for viewing moments after they have been verified (UIC., 2017).
The concept of patient-centered care is one of the recent developments in healthcare that has received increased attention. It has played a vital role in creating a new framework for improving systems and defining -healthcare quality. Information is critical to evidence-based practice and patient-centered care. It has evolved recently to focus on the acquisition of data, storage, and its use in the healthcare setting with more emphasis on the use of technology. For instance, the information on previous admissions, diagnosis, treatment, and prescriptions required to address health issues in later times. Another essential function that health informatics has used to undertake the coordination of care within and across systems besides facilitating the availability of relevant information (Parvanta, C. F., 2015). In other words, we cannot talk of quality care without factoring in the criticality of high quality of information within the equation.
The first one is credible excellence. It provides one with the robustness they need to arrive at and deliver on reliable solutions. Patient sovereignty is another factor that should inform the use of technology in the healthcare setting. The independence of the patients in terms of expressing themselves and providing information on their will without coercion provides all the motives to consider the effort to foster patient-centered care. The other parameter is that which regards privacy. Privacy of information is of the utmost importance when it comes to healthcare management (Wang, J., 2018).
Electronic Health Records are one of the standard technologies used in the healthcare setting that contain information regarding the diagnosis, immunization, and treatment of patients. Mobile Access is another technology used in the field of health information management. It is mainly used for storing the information belonging to a patient remotely in the cloud so that it is accessed anywhere. Unified Communications have also been vital in information sharing and are especially great for consulting outside help. Unified communications are assisting in enhancing patient outcomes and the effectiveness of the treatment process (Nelson, R., 2018).
The feather fall, patient’s admission is one of the roles that have accorded great attention. The gathering of patient's data starts right at the entrance. That is where the necessary data about the patient, such as names and contact, are input in the system. The clinical staff is tasked with the directives to add information and update the existing data on a recurrent basis. The data on diagnosis, treatment, and prescription of drugs have to be updated in the system for future reference.
The fundamental goal of using new systems herein is to enhance patient outcomes and, at the same time, comply with the laws and regulations. The starting point when evaluating how the new systems meet the demands of the organization is checking the readmission rates and turnover rates. On the one hand, the rate of readmission and patient-doctor ratio could give insights about how the new systems have transformed the service delivery model (Zheng, H., 2017). The accessibility of information would also assist in getting perceptions regarding how the new systems support the organization in complying with health regulations and laws. The vital aspects of being considered; include privacy that ensures that information belonging to patients does not get into the wrong hands.
TWO: Moving Toward Compliance
In regards to health regulations and laws ramifications, it will financially impact the Featherfall staff(s) or the organization, because they take too lightly the significance of the rules; for that reason, Featherfall staff violated several government regulations concerning the use of technology and its functions. The violation of law has severe financial consequences, operationally, and hospital’s security. The breach of compliance for Featherfall is troubling and not pleasing to the leadership of the organization. On February 17, 2009, The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act was signed into law to promote the meaningful use of health information technology (Redhead, C. S., 2018). The Act was signed into law to enable the motivation of electronic health records (HER) implementation and the support of technology in America. There was a monetary incentive that was provided between 2011 to 2015 to enable healthcare providers to demonstrate meaningful use of electronic health records (EHR). The provided incentives come with stipulations by the end 2015 healthcare organizations have to show the level of improvement and the full implementation of the HER, or they will be penalized (Redhead, C. S., 2018). Also, under the HITECH Act, the government in close watch on organizations that related to regular reports of neglect, which also entail mandatory penalties. In the HITECH Act, there is noncompliance with the government established standards regards to “neglect” that require the penalties estimated $250,000, and reoccurrences of violations will result in 1.5 million dollars (Redhead, C. S., 2018). On the other hand, the Featherfall as an organization does not bring up the standard of technology up to date, and the organization will subject to about 1.5 million dollars fine like reoccurrence offenders (Redhead, C. S. (2018). The noncompliance state of Featherfall as an organization, it will take them in a bad light the eyes of the public and a bad financial condition.
The Featherfall as an organization has not been effective operation wise because the staff(s) are not appropriately trained. The staff(s) are new to the technology that is in place. The technology inconveniences have resulted in operational imbalances. Also, as an organization, they are not using the required technology consistently, which leads to providing inconsistency in their services. The quality of service(s) provided Featherfall to their patients and community are compromised because of substandard technology. All the inconsistences will cost the organization financial losses and put the organization into financial difficulties because there are maybe compromised patient care, information, and errors in coding and billing. The security consequence for not using the technology appropriately by Featherfall staff(s) there may be probable healthcare data violation. The violation HITECH Act can also result in a breach of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) (Murphy, M., & Waterfill, M., 2010). The priority to any healthcare organization(s) is to protect patient(s) confidential information at any cost. The improper use of technology by staff(s) of Featherfall put patient(s) information at high risk of exposure. Likewise, the violation of HIPPA has its consequences that will result in a fine. The organization can be fined an estimated $50,000 for a first offense and up to 6 million for multiple reoccurrences within one calendar year (Murphy, M., & Waterfill, M., 2010).
THREE: Recommendations
Featherfall Medical Center has proved that it is hard for their organization to observe practices, policies, and health laws. If they did abide by them, then they would be in much better shape than they are now. This institution would return to exactly where it was if some recommendations are to be added to the rules and regulations. On the one hand, rules had to set up, incorporating new technology to keep the medical center organized.
After the technological system has made, it is crucial to devote sufficient time and resources to properly consider different options depending on which one (s) of the options should be selected. We have found that this feature of the planning and accompanying writing of business cases and procurement considerations is sometimes limited and often accelerated. For example, it is necessary to be fully aware of the full range of program providers, as well as to communicate with potential vendors to understand the principles and companies of companies that an organization is looking to engage in long-term relationships. It is beneficial to tour other health care facilities that use the same technology. Strong goal alignment and goal visibility allow faster execution of company strategy by enabling your management team to allocate human resources to various projects effectively. By exposing scarce business efforts, it also improves overall efficiency by ensuring that employees do not redo the efforts of others. Aligning goals also strengthens the leadership of your company by allowing managers to clearly understand all responsibilities related to specific objectives, remove unwanted resources from the workforce, and focus their employees on Feather fall’s most relevant aspirations.
Over and above meeting Featherfall's applicable requirements, the EHR must act following the privacy and security requirements under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, ARRA, and reasonable usage terms. In general, organizations fall somewhere between "trust but hold" and "full" on information from patients, as stated by Eric Liederman, MD, MPH, director of medical informatics for Kaiser Permanente in northern California. A lot of decisions in the design, training, and monitoring phase of implementation will be driven by where the organization wants to be in that spectrum (California HealthCare Foundation, 2008).
Finally, to get rid of time wastage, the center should define its objectives by the use of an Electronic Health Record (EHR). Featherfall should ensure they meet the minimum requirements of the American Recovery and Reinvestments Act (ARRA) requirements of 2009 incentives while they change their strategies in the smallest way possible. The others want to fully robotize their workflow, add a billing system, and increase the ease of connecting with laboratories and other suppliers and come up with an online patient communication and education tool via a linked portal. The practice objectives will lead to a variation in the time required, dealers, training, and the cost incurred (Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2006).
Conclusion
Reference
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Nelson, R. (2018). Health informatics: An interprofessional approach. St. Louis: Mosby.
Parvanta, C. F. (2015). Essentials of public health communication. Sudbury, MA: Jones & Bartlett Learning.
Redhead, C. S. (2018). The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act ([Library of Congress public edition].). Congressional Research Service.
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Electronic Health Records Still Not Routine Part of Medical Practice, Says New Study. 2006, http://www.rwjf.org/pr/product.jsp?id=21882
UIC (2017). A Brief History of Health Informatics. Retrieved from: https://healthinformatics.uic.edu/resources/articles/a-brief-history-of-health-informatics/