Improving Local Health Care
Improving Local Health Care
E Prescription
E prescription is a telecommunication concept that allows medical practitioners to transmit medical prescriptions direct to the pharmaceutical in the electronic format (American Medical Association, 2012). This concept eliminates the use of traditional transcription as a way of communicating prescription information. This telecommunication technology performs various functions including generating a complete list of medication that can address the patient’s problem. The program can also select the most suitable prescription for a certain patient and electronically transmit the prescription. The program also has the option of printing the prescription. The program can also provide information concerning the availability of low cost medication.
The e prescription technology will enhance heath care services at the local facility by minimizing prescription error. The local health care facility uses the traditional method of prescribing medication. This traditional method entails producing handwritten scripts and handing it to the patient for him to deliver it to the pharmaceuticals. Shifting to electronic prescription will assist the local healthcare facility to minimize errors. Providing the right medication to patients is a key element in promoting health. However, using the traditional method of prescribing medication exposes the process to error. The hand written scripts are often difficult to read and may results in the misinterpretation of the prescription by the pharmacists. Switching to an e prescription platform will enable the local healthcare facility to reduce error by ensuring the prescriptions are clear.
Apart from the transmission element, e prescription technology also incorporates an information element. The e-transcription software provides the medical practitioner with essential information such as drug interaction and other indications at the time the practitioners are preparing the transcription. This program correlates the patient’s medical information and the prescriptions that the practitioner is proposing in order to provide information concerning the suitability of the prescription. This increases the practitioner’s awareness concerning such issues. The traditional prescription method does not have such a provision and is, therefore, prone to mistakes. Without this essential information, the chances of prescribing drugs that may harm the patient are increased.
The electronic prescription technology will also reduce the cost of health care at the local facility. Many patients at the local health care facilities pay for their prescription out of pocket. This is because the pharmacist has limited access to the patient’s benefit information. The local healthcare information can overcome this challenge by implementing the electronic prescription technology. Apart from incorporating the patients’ medical history, the program also comprises of the details concerning the patient medical benefits. It presents information concerning the patient’s coverage or eligibility to the public healthcare insurance plans. This means that the facility can easily convey this information to the pharmacists in order to enable patients to access the drugs at cheaper rates.
The local health care facility also stands to gain from additional revenue by implementing the electronic prescription technology. In 2009, the government, through the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act, established an incentive scheme to promote the use of the electronic prescription technology. This incentive entitles facilities that implement electronic prescription to an amount that is equal to 1% of the facilities annual Medicare payment.
Recommendations for the IM/ IT Department
The Information Management and Information Technology department is responsible for facilitating the provision of services of superior quality to the patients (Kramer, Walker & Falk, 2009). This department recognizes that information and technology are essential elements in the management of healthcare. Thus, each healthcare establishment should place a lot of emphasis on improving the IM/ IT department (HIMSS, 2009). The process of improving the IM/ IT department in the local healthcare facility can be enhanced in two main ways; promoting the participation of all stakeholders and incorporating modern technologies.
The local healthcare facility is a system that comprises of numerous stakeholders. These stakeholders include; patients, medical practitioners, suppliers, policy makers and many others. These stakeholders are affected by changes in the IM/ IT departments in various ways (Kramer, Walker & Falk, 2009). For instance, implementation of the electronic prescription technology will affect the patient, physicians and pharmacists in varied ways. The physician and the pharmacist will need to understand how to use the program while the patient has to adapt to the new way of receiving prescription. Thus, in order to ensure the seamless implementation of improvement efforts, the healthcare facility should ensure all stakeholders contribute into the process. Involving all stakeholders will ensure that the improvement process receives the necessary support.
Encouraging participation of all stakeholders will also ensure that the improvement efforts focus on priority areas (HIMSS, 2009). The local healthcare facility has numerous needs but limited resources. This means the IM/IT department needs to focus on the most essential areas in order to make meaningful changes to its processes (Kramer, Walker & Falk, 2009). Involving all stakeholders in the improvement process will ensure that high priority areas are easily identified. Failing to involve some of the stakeholders may results in a situation where resources are channeled toward projects that do not present significant benefits to all stakeholders.
The second recommendation for enhancing IM/ IT department’s process improvement framework is to incorporate modern technology (HIMSS, 2009). One of the primary objectives of the IM/IT department in healthcare is to advance the value of care by enhancing efficiency. Implementation of modern technology can assist the organization to realize this goal. Modern technologies can reduce the time taken to perform a certain task. It may also reduce the amount of money spent to send, receive and store information. Thus, implementation of modern technology can enhance the organization’s efficiency thus reducing costs.
Another goal of the IM/ IT department is to advances the value of care by enhancing the services delivery process (HIMSS, 2009). Modern technology can help the local healthcare establishment to enhance services delivery in numerous ways (Kramer, Walker & Falk, 2009). One way is by making services fast thus reducing the waiting time for patients. Technology may also improve the process of making diagnosis and providing treatment. For instance, the Electronic Medical Record system facilitates the diagnostic and treatment process by providing accurate information concerning the patient’s medical history.
Configuration Management Database
The Configuration Management Database (CMD) is an application that stores information concerning all the component of an information system (Jie, 2010). This information enables the organization to recognize all the essential components of its information system. The CMD also presents a clear image of how the various components of the information system interact in order to make the entire system work. Therefore, the CMD is a vital management tool that the management team can use to manage the information system.
The local healthcare facility stands to gain in various ways by implementing the CMD. One of the benefits is reduced cost of implementing change. The information environment is extremely dynamic and; therefore, healthcare organization needs to keep changing the information system in order to remain competitive (Jie, 2010). However, this process demands massive investments of funds. The organization needs to evaluate the existing information system and conduct an analysis of the impact of the proposed changes. Presence of the CMD reduces the cost of implementing changes by providing such information. The CMD will provide the institution management team with regular information concerning the organization’s information system. This information will be useful during change implementation.
The CMD also reduces the cost of managing incidents and problem (Artherton, 2007). The local healthcare facility can experience breakdown in its information system. This would require a lot of resources to identify the problem and solutions for fixing this problem. However, the CMD reduces this cost by helping the IT specialists to identify areas of problem. The CMD provides information concerning all the components of the system and how they interact. Thus, it is easy to diagnose problems and incidents.
CMD will also ensure the optimization of the institution’s information system (Artherton, 2007). Apart from generating cost, managing incidents of system breakdown may also consume a lot of the organization’s time. However, the CMD reduces the time required to manage such incidents by simplifying the process of diagnosing problems. The CMD also affords the management team with an instrument for proactively managing incidents and changes. This means that the management is able to detect areas that need changes before a problem occurs.
References
American Medical Association (2012). Understanding the Basics of Medicare’s Electronic Prescribing Program. December 5, 2012. http://www.ama-assn.org/resources/doc/hit/faq-cms-incentive-program.pdf
Artherton M. (2007). Deploying CMDB Technology. Free Form Dynamics
HIMSS (2009). Healthcare Information Exchange. December 5, 2012. http://www.himss.org/content/files/Natl_Internatl_White_Paper051309.pdf
Jie M. (2010). Configuration Management Improvement. December 5, 2012. https://gupea.ub.gu.se/bitstream/2077/24575/1/gupea_2077_24575_1.pdf
Kramer S. Walker J. & Falk W. (2009). Developing an Effective IM/ IT Strategy. Healthcare Quarterly. 12 (2009): 16- 19
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