Question

Discuss the importance of the user experience when implementing or changing components of health information technology.

Answer 1

Ans) Ideally, the NHII will rely on the EHR as the central integrating component for data acquisition, analysis, and storage.

- Key capabilities of an EHR system include core health information, results management, order management, decision support, communication, patient support, and reporting (Institute of Medicine, 2003).

- This data is used for the implementation of policies in order to better treat and prevent the spread of diseases.

- Health IT improves the quality of healthcare delivery, increases patient safety, decreases medical errors, and strengthens the interaction between patients and healthcare providers.

- Because patient safety is an integral part of delivering quality health care, the committee believes that ensuring patient safety requires multiple measures throughout the continuum of care that can be accomplished through the establishment of an NHII.

- The key to the development of the NHII is threefold:

(1) the implementation of a strategic plan for progressive migration from the current state to the comprehensive integrated network incorporating the principal informatcs.

(2) the provision of financial incentives by the federal government to support investments in information technologies, and

(3) the implementation of common data standards for interoperability and comparability of health information.

- Although a health information infrastructure that supports learning and accountability systems for patient safety has not been implemented in most organizations to date, the barriers involved are not primarily technological.

- Rather, the lack of technology implementation and the failure to use common data standards have been the principal barriers.

- Highlighting the need for standards for

(1) a concept-oriented terminology that supports nonambiguous definitions of concepts and data reuse for safety and quality purposes;

(2) a CDA that will improve the utility of using NLP techniques for extracting the data required for learning and accountability systems from textual documents, such as clinical notes and voluntary reporting systems;

(3) messaging standards that enable data integration across disparate computer-based systems, including those that cut cross organizations; and

(4) knowledge representation standards that support the development of computable guidelines for evidence-based practice and decision support rules that are shared among organizations.

- The accelerated adoption of such standards in turn requires public–private partnerships and sufficient incentives, rather than technical innovation.