For this Discussion you consider the impact of the meaningful use criteria of the HITECH legislation on the adoption of health information technology.
To prepare:
- Review the Learning Resources on the HITECH legislation and its primary goals.
- Reflect on the positive and negative impact this legislation has had on your organization or one with which you are familiar.
- Consider the incentives to encourage the use of EHRs. Focus on the definition of meaningful use and how it is measured.
- Reflect on how the incentives and meaningful use impact the quality of patient care.
- Find an article in the Walden Library dealing with one of the criteria to qualify for meaningful use and how it has been successfully met.
Discussion
Hitech technology has caused significantly positive impact in my organisation when I worked in a small healthcare facility in my neighborhood. The requirement of the legislation to provide and improve quality and safety has become relevant and important in the facility (HealthIT.gov, 2015). It enabled the organisation to use Electronic Health Records for functions within the inpatient and outpatient department, enabling us to avoid mixing data and improving efficiency of service (Davis and LaCour, 2014). It became easy to trace information about patients and specific types of diseases. This enabled us to avoid confusion and keep the environment safe for patients and nurses. Services for outpatients also improved in terms of quality because diseases and their relevant treatments were easily linked, and attending to patients became faster; hence reducing wait time and shortening queues. Its incentives encourage healthcare providers to improve the use of health information technology because it ensures that the providers are motivated to use them (Fonkych et al, 2005). Quality of patient care is improved by such incentives because they are attended to faster and more accurately due to the motivation related to HITECH legislation incentives (Denison & Montevoy, 2011). Healthcare providers use the health information technology to benefit from the incentives associated with it.
The article I chose is “Factors shaping effective utilization of health information technology in urban safety-net clinics” by George et al (2012) from Walden University Library. The article explains the impact of health information\ technology in form of effectiveness, quality and safety of health care clinics. It explains the challenges that clinics face when adopting health information technology. According to the authors, health information technology addresses the technology-related needs of clinics, and attempts to provide solutions. However, the utilization of health information technology can be maximized through the provision of health-care professional training, improvement of infrastructure, and creation of groups to enhance knowledge sharing in the field of health i8nformation technology.
Among the criteria for meaningful use of technology, the one that poses the most significant challenge is “engage with patients and families” because sometimes some patients are hard to handle. Due to their conditions, they become harsh and uncooperative. Therefore, it becomes difficult to engage them. Some families are also not concerned with their patients, so engaging them is a difficult task. Furthermore, some patients do not want their families to be engaged because they do not want to make them worry or to bother them, so it is only fair to respect their wishes.
References List
Davis, N.A., and LaCour, M. (2014). Health information technology. St. Louis, Missouri: Elsevier/Saunders.
Denison, C.M., & Montevoy, E.L. (2011). Transforming healthcare with health information technology. New York: Nova Science Publishers
Fonkych, K., Taylor, R., & Rand Corporation. (2005). The state and pattern of health information technology adoption. Santa Monica, CA: Rand Corp.
George, S., Garth, B., Fish, A. and Baker, R. (2012). Factors shaping effective utilization of health information technology in urban safety-net clinics. Health Informatics Journal, 19(3), 183–197.
HealthIT.gov. (2015). Health IT Legislation and Regulation. Accessed July 20, 2015 from http://www.healthit.gov/policy-researchers-implementers/health-it-legislation-and-regulations.
