Information Technology In Health Care
Introduction
Health care professionals have embraced information technology which has transformed the health care field by making activities such as analyzing epidemiological studies as well as keeping patient records. Similarly, nurses have used the same information and communicate systems to strengthen the relationship between clients and health care providers. Such systems are essential in establishing and evaluating clinical procedures as well as predicting the outcome of such processes. Outsourcing of information technology services increases the efficiency of service provider’s supply as they are able to handle more cases at one instance. Hence information technology has proved to be quite advantageous in making health care delivery more cost effective.
key players
Information technology has substantially increased knowledge ability of health care providers as they are able to access a lot of information about the health issue at hand. This minimizes occurrence of clinical errors which arise due to human weakness. (Micheletti, and Mannis, 2004) These features of information technology contribute to increased efficiency of health care services delivery and execution. Consequently, the well being of clients is enhanced in addition to increased access to facilities and reduction in mortality rates (Getzen, 2007).
Supply and demand models
The outsourcing model is used in health care to provide services such as information technology installation and execution at the health care facilities. Similarly, the looming shortage of healthcare providers will be solved and the cost of health care will subsequently reduce.The in-house model involves the health care providers to maintain and control their systems without including specialized support. This is quite disadvantageous as health care providers may end up spending more time managing non-health care related activities. This causes a huge disparity in the demand of services and their supply. In this case, the cost of health care may increase due to reduced access to health care services (Getzen, 2007).The hybrid model incorporates use of minimal outsourcing services in addition to setting aside a department who will control and manage the information systems. Such a plan is significantly efficient as the aspects of in-house and outsourcing will be concurrently used to ensure that the clients as well as health service providers are well catered for. Hence the best model is the hybrid as it meets the needs of both parties in the health care field (Micheletti, 2004).
Micro and macroeconomic perspectives and utilization
The micro-economic perspective is essential in health care especially in administration of treatment as it provides avenues through which a health care provider may save lots of money when they offer specific treatment at designated times. Similarly, the method of administration is also critical in establishing cost effectiveness (Karev, 2008).The macroeconomic perspective is based on the asymmetric information as health care providers tend to know more about various treatment methods as well as their efficiency. In this case, healthcare providers who share information concerning ways of maintaining simple health complications are able to reduce the number of patient seeking minor treatment hence they pay more attention to major health issues (Johnson, 2008).
Best practices
One of the best practices used to increase the efficiency of services in the health care system is utilization of knowledge management. Knowledge management involves keeping up to date records concerning various issues in an electronic database. These records could be on prevalence of diseases as well as the history of clients such that they do not have to restate their medical history every time they seek health care services. This reduces time spent when extracting information hence the demand of health care providers is minimized. Information on common ailments in addition to new inventions in the field can be placed on the health care facility’s website such that patients can access it any time they are interested (Johnson, 2008).
Benchmarking
Benchmarking is a technique used by organizations to determine the level of performance or to analyze the overall results of various undertakings. In the health care industry, information technology can be used to gauge the performance of a healthcare facility by establishing a website then identifying the number of times clients visit the site (Karev, 2008).Similarly, the nature of suggestions or complaints placed by potential clients is critical, in determining success of new and existing services. This can be achieved by establishing a component of the site which gives a chance to individuals to post comments which are efficient in determining issues such as cost effectiveness of health care services (Getzen, 2007).
Policy and regulations in health care
The government requests citizens to ensure that they are insured through their employers by private insurance companies. Similarly, the government also provides health insurance services to the disabled and those who are over sixty five years old. Such policies ensure that all citizens are able to access quality health care services at their own need. Records of insurance information of patients should be included in the database hence it appears easier to trace such information rather than having to request the client to state the same again. Other health care policies call for the government to provide accessible health care for all and especially laying emphasis on certain health conditions such as obesity, diabetes among other disabilities (Johnson, 2008).
Economic incentives and competition
Economic incentives provided by the government include grants used in conducting research aimed at improving the wellbeing of all individuals. Such research leads to development of new was of preventing communicable diseases as well as establishing a variety of ways through which the patients are able to control minor ailments. This development reduces the demand for health care services while at the same time the cost effectiveness of services is enhanced. Similarly, provision of accessible health services in public health facilities as well as ensuring the quality of health care services is appropriate in reducing competition from the private sector (Getzen, 2007).
Global complications
Worldwide complications in the field of health care include shortage in the number of health care providers and especially nurses. The other issues concerns lack of funds to develop information technology systems in the facilities (Karev, 2008).
Conclusion
The most important feature when embracing information technology is ensuring that all health care professionals are conversant with various information technology system applications such that all will be in a position to carry out a variety of operations. This ensures that all health care providers can access information concerning the patient without having to seek help from others in addition to increasing their scope on the area of specialization. Consequently, a database comprising of past achievements and client comments can be used to determine how much the health care facility has achieved since the receipt of the complaints. This way the quality of the services in enhanced.
References
Getzen, T. E. (2007). Health economics and financing. (3rd ed.). John Wiley and Sons, Inc.,
Johnson, R. (2008, May) Three forecasts for global healthcare. Health leaders Media. Healthcare Financial Management. August. 1-5.
http://ww.helathleadersmedia.com/print/content/211555/topic/WS_HLM2_GBL/
Karev, O. (2008) Healthcare beyond borders. Global Health Landscape. United Health International; United Health Services, inc. p.1-3.
http://uhgi.com/global/dox/HealthcareBeyondBordersOK041408.pdf
Micheletti, J. A. & Mannis, T. M. (2004). A proactive approach to utilization management. Hoboken, NJ.
Is this your assignment or some part of it?
We can do it for you! Click to Order!
