Healthcare IT Management

Editor's Notes

• #5 IT Applications in Healthcare:administrative and financial systems that facilitate billing, accounting, and other administrative tasks;clinical systems that facilitate or provide input into the care process; andinfrastructure that supports both the administrative and clinical applications.
• #7 Classic Disintermediation: Shift from GPOs to B2B firms ( Manufactures to Providers)Remediation: Introduction of Medical Insurance Companies in Value ChainNetwork based mediation: Web based Equipment suppliers. Example: Medical Point (medicalpointindia.com)
• #8 The ability for patients to obtain information to better manage their condition and to communicate with the health system could also improve the efficiency and quality of care. This potential to improve care makes broader diffusion of IT desirable.Improve health care accessibilityMaking health care affordableReduced healthcare costs Improve the quality, safety, and efficiency of health careMinimize handwriting or other communication errors
• #10 Challenges faced:Almost every industry began with services and products that were so complicated and expensive to provide that only people with a lot of skill and a lot of money could participate. The transformational force that has brought affordability and accessibility to other industries is disruptive innovation. Today's health-care industry screams for disruption. Enablers:The technological enabler transforms a technological problem from something that requires deep training, intuition, and iteration to resolve, into a problem that can be addressed in a predictable, rules-based way. Diagnostic abilities are the technological enablers of disruption in health care. Precise definition of the problem, in this and in every industry, is a prerequisite to the development of a predictably effective solution. In the past, business model innovation was common in health care. When the technological enablers for the diagnosis and treatment of infectious diseases emerged, most patient care was transferred away from hospitals to doctors' offices, and away from the doctors to nurses. However, business model innovation has stalled in the last three decades. Regulations and reimbursement systems currently trap in high-cost venues much care that could be provided in lower-cost, more convenient business models. Other disruptions fail because they lack new value networks that combine business models into coherent ecosystems that allow them to disrupt their predecessors
• #13 UnificationStandardized integrated processes:Customers and suppliers maybe local or globalGlobally integrated business processes often with support of enterprise systemsBusiness Units with similar or overlapping Marketing & Procurement operationsCentralized management often applying functional/process/business unit matrixHigh level process owners design for standardized processesCentrally mandated databasesIT decisions made centrallyNo duplication of dataIntegration of all business units to maximize profitsStandardisation of all technologies and process resulting in high efficiencyReplicationStandardized independance:Few, if any shared customersIndependent transactions aggregated at a high levelOperationally similar business unitsAutonomous business unit leaders with limited authority over processesCentralized (or federal) control over business process designStandardized data definitions but data locally owned with some aggregationCentrally mandated IT services
• #14 Federal Laws like HIPAA that seek intense scrutiny of the IT system security and patient data integrity, and the job of the IT System/Network manager becomes all the more difficult.Reducing medical errors and promotion of patient safetyRisks associated with social mediaFormation of Unintended Provider-Patient Relationships through social mediaPotential Violations of Patient Privacy and ConfidentialityExerting Undue InfluenceMisuse of InformationFriends with patients on social media sites may pose risks under Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act(HIPAA) and state privacy lawsNetwork DisasterFailure of a network element that goes unnoticedLoss of access to the IT application (HIS)Non-availability of enough bandwidth for healthcare related activitiesUnauthorised intrusion in to the network by scrupulous elements and virus attacksRemote data access and network connectivity
• #15 Share information more easily and improve operational efficiencyCloud :A health care cloud is a cloud computing service used by health care providers for storing, maintaining and backing up personal heath information (PHI).Carestream Health is a Medical and dental imaging and information technology solutions company. Vue Cloud is a Software-as-a-Service (Saas) for cloud based services, innovative approach to imaging information on a predictable, pay-as-you-go basis.--mhealth – mHealth is a term used for the practice of medicine and public health, supported by mobile devices--New platform mHIMSSto progress on technology, policy, security, and implementation surrounding mHealth--A survey in 2010 found that over 80% of both specialist and primary care doctors were interested in ePrescribing using their smartphones--Implementation of EHRs and EMRs on smartphones--In 2010,17% of cell phone users used their phone to look up health or medical information and 9% have apps on their phones to track or manage their health--95% of physicians use the smartphones in their daily practice, from prescribing medicine to scheduling patient follow-ups and entering billing data--Behavioral health organizations across the country are using new online platforms like Live Webinars to help people with substance abuse, depression, PTSD, and chronic pain as collaborate with their care providers to manage illnesses and reduce overall healthcare costs.
• #16 PatientsLikeMe offers a 24/7 secure login for health plans to enable disease management.MedHelp offers a number of tracking tools for pain, weight and other chronic conditions.CureTogether track and compare health data to better understand bodies, make more informed treatment decisions and contribute data to researchFacetoFaceuses a proprietary algorithm to match people with similar diagnoses. Analytics:Healthcare analytics is about converting massive amounts of healthcare data into usable intelligence to improve treatment, health and wellness programs, research, and administrative processesOpen Source :They encompass every subject from ultrasound technician education to national health care database privacy.GNUmed: Use this free/open source software, released under the GNU Public license to handle your patient’s records.IndivoHealth: Indivo is a personally controlled health record system that enables patients to own complete, secure copies of their medical records.
• #17 Telemedicine is a rapidly developing application of clinical medicine where medical information is transferred through the phone or the Internet and sometimes other networks for the purpose of consulting, and sometimes remote medical procedures or examinations.Telemedicine may be as simple as two health professionals discussing a case over the telephone, or as complex as using satellite technology and video-conferencing equipment to conduct a real-time consultation between medical specialists in two different countries. Telemedicine generally refers to the use of communications and information technologies for the delivery of clinical care.Telemedicine can be broadly defined as healthcare services delivered through telecommunication networks. In simplest terms, Telemedicine can be explained as two doctors or doctor-patient discussing the case on a phone. Practiced telemedicine is more than simple voice communication over telephone lines.In other means telemedicine is the transfer of patient's medical data in electronic format like Patient's demographical information and history, images like X-ray, CT scan and MRI; ECG; video of sonography, endoscopy, angiography and pathology; audio of electronic stethoscope and doppler; for diagnosis, treatment as well as clinical education. Medisoft Telemedicine Pvt. Ltd. is a research based development company established with the objective of improving health care delivery by setting the highest standards in the field of public health with the help of telemedicine and ehealth.
• #18 Google Health was a personal health information centralization service (sometimes known as personal health record services) by Google introduced in 2008 and announced for withdrawal in 2011In Google’s case, it’s partly because they haven’t really pushed to see what people would want. They basically offered a place to store data.The established moniker of “Same Old Google” didn’t do well for Google as they were not trusted for Personal data , hence were not trusted any higher with patients’ health dataSince Google Health was known to have a bottom up approach, the focus shifted from the broad adoption of providers such as doctors and dentists and clinicians who in turn would bring in patients. Hence, a poor provider adoption had limited success with consumersPoorly marketedToo cumbersome to useNot trustworthy