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The U.S. Health Care System and Health Informatics Discussion Board
Tonya Wright
School of Business, Liberty University
Author Note
I have no known conflict of interest to disclose.
Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to
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The U.S. Health Care System and Health Informatics Discussion Board
“If public health's effectiveness and profile are to grow, practitioners and researchers will need
reliable, timely information with which to make information-driven decisions, better ways to
communicate, and improved tools to analyze and present new knowledge” (Friede, et al., 1995).
Medical informatics was adopted in the United States in the 1980s when physicians, scientists,
and engineers studied how computer applications could be used in medical care (Liberty
University, 2021, p.67). Medical informatics became health informatics, which is a part of
biomedical informatics. Friede, et al. (1995) state, “If public health's effectiveness and profile are
to grow, practitioners and researchers will need reliable, timely information with which to make
information-driven decisions, better ways to communicate, and improved tools to analyze and
present new knowledge. The vast majority of medical records are digital today, leading to more
growth and advancement in the field of health informatics.
The adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) has led to the growth of health informatics.
With the passing of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act
(HITECH) program, EHRs became even more popular with the incentive of payment for using
EHRs and their meaningful use (Liberty University, 2021, p. 69). “Massive investments in HIT
are based on the premise that getting relevant patient information to the right place at the right
time will result in improved care, lower costs, and a healthier population” (Liberty University,
2021, p. 74). Having a healthier population should be the goal of all health care providers as
Psalm 41:3 says, “The LORD sustains him on his sickbed; in his illness you restore him to
full health” (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, 2001). The Lord wants health care
providers to restore our fellow man to health to the best of our ability.
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The American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA), an organization for
Health Information Management (HIM) professionals, joined with the American Medical
Informatics Association (AMIA) to provide a roadmap for understanding the larger field of
biomedical informatics and also define parameters of health informatics (Liberty University,
2021, p. 68). The Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information
Management Education (CAHIIM) states that health informatics education at the graduate level
should consist of three parts: information systems, informatics principles, and information
technology (Liberty University, 2021, p. 68). These parts help to ensure HIM personnel are ready
to tackle the many tasks they will have when working in their field. Health care has extra
challenges that traditional information technology personnel find hard to understand, for
example, EHRs, medical terminology, and medical coding.
With the expanding use of smartphones and other mobile devices, health informatics is
expanding to have EHRs in the palm of a health care provider’s hand. I work with medical
residents, and we all have Epic, our hospital’s EHR, on our smartphones so that when we are
rounding on our patients, we have their information readily available. Another recent expansion
for health informatics is the use of continuous glucose monitoring systems (CGMs), which
originally were for patients with diabetes and have expanded to help the everyday person
understand how their bodies respond to food. The results of the readings for CGMs are sent
directly to the person’s smartphone for them to have real-time data to use. With the expansion of
meaningful use, many providers are now offering consumer-oriented patient portals. The
consumer-oriented goals include the following:
Providing consumers with access to their health data
Making it easier for consumers to use their health information
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Shifting attitudes about ownership of health data so that more information will be shared
with patients and their caregivers (Liberty University, 2021, p. 81)
These few examples show that the HIM field is expanding quickly. The Affordable Care Act
(ACA) switched reimbursement from fee-for-service to pay-for-performance, making
measurements, such as patient outcomes, of major importance (Liberty University, 2021, p. 80).
With this shift in how reimbursement is given, providers will need patient data on demand,
which leads to data mining and real-time data analysis (Liberty University, 2021, p. 80). The
ACA, combined with the growing mHealth trend, is helping to expand the HIM field and will
help ensure HIM professionals' employment for many years.
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References
Friede, A., Blum, H. L., & Mcdonald, M. (1995). PUBLIC HEALTH INFORMATICS: How
Information-Age Technology Can Strengthen Public Health. Annu. Rev. Public
Health, 16, 239-
252. https://annualreviews.org/doi/10.1146/annurev.pu.16.050195.001323
Liberty University. (2021). Health informatics: BUSI/INFO 505. McGraw-Hill Education.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. (2001). https://esv.literalword.com
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