Addressing Concerns about Governance, Compliance, Data Quality, and Integrity regarding use of Electronic Health Record (EHR) System

Addressing Concerns about Governance, Compliance, Data Quality, and Integrity regarding use of Electronic Health Record (EHR) System

Implementation of electronic health record (EHR) systems or IT system in an organization come with various concerns. It is the responsibility of the chief information officer to identify and address the concerns when implementing the use of the system. Most of the concerns revolve around leadership and the use of healthcare information. Major leadership concerns include interdepartmental coordination, leadership style used, moral and legal issues of the system, staff development, timeframes and scheduling, and budgeting. Healthcare data is useful in improving the quality of healthcare services. However, there are some problems associated with the use of healthcare data, such as policy issues concerning security. Adhering to the components of AHIMA’s health care data quality model, such as data protection, helps in addressing the health data issues. Get in touch with us at eminencepapers.com. We offer assignment help with high professionalism.

Leadership concerns

Leadership concerns related to the implementation of the EHR system involve the direction and interaction of the organization’s executive. The major leadership concerns that should be addressed are the interdepartmental coordination, leadership style used, moral and legal issues of the system, staff development, timeframes and scheduling, and budgeting. One of the leadership concerns is interdepartmental coordination. Healthcare organizations have different departments that are related, and therefore, the system should ensure there is proper coordination for the effectiveness and efficiency of services (Zou, Liang, & He, 2020). Changing to the new system may bring some challenges, such as sharing data with the wrong department. Some departments may find it hard to use the new system. Ensuring effective communication between departments will ensure proper interdepartmental coordination. Each department should have a leader who, in collaboration with each other, ensures the proper use of the system (Zou, Liang, & He, 2020). Using a divisional organization structure will help in addressing the concern of interdepartmental coordination. The leadership style is also a concern. The use of the new IT system leads to change, and some workers may resist. Using an autocratic style may lead to more resistance and challenges. Democratic leadership, where all employees are involved in making decisions based on the challenges experienced in using the system, addresses the leadership style concern.

The other leadership concern that should be addressed is the moral and legal issues of using the IT system. Practices and activities when using the system may be against moral and legal requirements (Zou, Liang, & He, 2020). Leaders should, therefore, ensure that using the system is safe for both the users and patients. The system should comply with existing laws. Some staff may be unable to use the system, leading to concern for staff development. There should be staff development through continuous education and training on IT. Staff should also be motivated to use the system. Planning in terms of timeframes and scheduling is a concern that might arise (Zou, Liang, & He, 2020). Unplanned events may occur during the implementation of the system, which interferes with normal schedules and timeframes. Proper strategic planning helps in the prediction of unplanned events to avoid interference with the system. An extra budget should be put aside for dealing with extra needs such as infrastructure that may arise. Enough money should also be allocated for the maintenance of the system.

Uses of Health Care Data

Healthcare data has a lot of uses both in the organization and outside the healthcare organization. One of the uses of the data is to keep patients healthy. The data reports specific patient activities and trends, which provide important information to nurses and physicians. The data is used by healthcare professionals to develop wellness programs leading to quality care (Wang et al., 2020). The other use of healthcare data is to expand diagnostic services. The data is used to make accurate medical diagnoses through comparison and advice to patients on their medical conditions. It is possible to accurately diagnose conditions such as COPD with healthcare data. Healthcare data is also used to ensure patient safety by reducing medical errors. Healthcare data that is accurate and stored well also reduces healthcare costs (Wang et al., 2020). The data also helps the government to come up with better policies, such as insurance policies.

Issues Associated With the Use of Healthcare Data

There are various issues associated with the use of healthcare data. One of the issues is the problem of aggregating data. Pulling all data together in healthcare is usually a challenge that should be addressed through proper collaboration. Proper data governance and screening are required for data aggregation, which in most cases is challenging. The other problem with healthcare data is the problem of policy and the process of implementing the use of healthcare data. The policy-related issues include the procedures to protect patient information. Policies such as the HIPPAA regulation require that patient’s information should be private and confidential. Ideally, the rule regarding control, access, security, authentication, and transmission of health data is challenging (Bani Issa et al., 2020). The other challenge is related to management problems. Proper and effective use of health data requires the use of proper IT infrastructure and hiring IT professionals with appropriate skills. Proper organization is required for the proper implementation of health data information.

How to protect against health care data problems

The major problem with healthcare data involves the security and confidentiality of healthcare data. To address the challenges, healthcare providers should be trained on how to use IT systems in an organization to ensure that data is safe. IT training and education of physicians and other healthcare workers will help deal with the challenge regarding security and healthcare data. The other way is through proper planning and hiring of IT professionals. Strategic planning and hiring of IT professionals will help in the early identification of the problems and the best ways of dealing with the problems (Bani Issa et al., 2020). Healthcare facilities should ensure that their IT systems are up to date to ensure the security of their data. Physical restriction to the IT system servers and computers will also help deal with the security of the data. Only authorized personnel able to identify themselves should be allowed entry into rooms with servers and computers (Bani Issa et al., 2020). One-time passwords to patients and login information to systems users will also ensure the security of healthcare data.

Components of AHIMA’s health care data quality model

The AHIMA’s healthcare data quality model provides a foundation for governing healthcare data through various principles of components. One of the major components is accountability (Johnson et al., 2019). Each member of the healthcare information should be accountable for activities through proper identification and designation. The other component is transparency, where an organization should ensure that documentation and all activities are available to the relevant stakeholders for review. There should be integrity where there should be trustworthiness in the completion of the data (Johnson et al., 2019). Protection is another component where program users should ensure the privacy of data by preventing data breaches and loss. The other principle of AHIMA’s healthcare data quality model includes compliance, Availability, retention, and disposition. In terms of compliance, the system should adhere to state, federal, and local regulations and policies (Johnson et al., 2019). The organization should ensure that relevant infrastructure is available for the implementation of the system. To ensure disposition, the system should ensure ethical and legal disposition during the transfer of data and destruction of data. The healthcare organization should comply with the legal requirements and ethical considerations in retaining any healthcare data.

Conclusion

The use of modern technology in healthcare organizations has increased, leading to increased use of electronic health record (EHR) systems. The use of IT systems has a lot of advantages but is associated with some issues which should be addressed. Healthcare data is used for improving the quality of care, such as improving the management of patients, increasing patient safety, aiding in making accurate medical diagnoses, and reducing the cost of healthcare services. Leadership issues associated with the use of IT systems include interdepartmental coordination, leadership style used, moral and legal issues of the system, staff development, timeframes and scheduling, and budgeting. Problems associated with healthcare data include the problem of pulling data from different departments together and policy-related issues such as security and confidentiality. Adhering to the AHIMA’s healthcare data quality model components and principles, such as integrity, accountability, and protection, helps in addressing problems associated with healthcare data. Healthcare organizations should ensure proper strategic planning, ensure that systems are updated, and ensure IT system users use one-time login passwords to address most of the issues associated with the implementation of the IT systems.

References

Bani Issa, W., Al Akour, I., Ibrahim, A., Almarzouqi, A., Abbas, S., Hisham, F., & Griffiths, J. (2020). Privacy, confidentiality, security and patient safety concerns about electronic health records. International nursing review, 67(2), 218-230.

Johnson, S. G., Pruinelli, L., Hoff, A., Kumar, V., Simon, G. J., Steinbach, M., & Westra, B. L. (2019). A framework for visualizing data quality for predictive models and clinical quality measures. AMIA Summits on Translational Science Proceedings, 2019, 630.

Wang, Z., Talburt, J. R., Wu, N., Dagtas, S., & Zozus, M. N. (2020). A Rule-Based Data Quality Assessment System for Electronic Health Record Data. Applied Clinical Informatics, 11(04), 622-634.

Zou, N., Liang, S., & He, D. (2020). Issues and challenges of user and data interaction in healthcare-related IoT: a systematic review. Library Hi Tech.

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Assignment Details

As the chief information officer (CIO) of St. Augustine’s Hospital, you and your team have successfully had an operational electronic health record (EHR) system. However, there are some concerns about governance, compliance, data quality, and integrity.

Address these concerns by responding to the following:

What are the concerns of leadership in aligning health care information technology (IT) and organizational strategy through the strategic information systems planning (SISP) process?
Explain the various uses of health care data.
Describe the issues or problems associated with the use of health care data.
Describe how you correct or protect against healthcare data problems.
Identify the components of AHIMA’s health care data quality model.
Demonstrate how these components are used to improve data quality.
Use the following template: Unit 5 Assignment.
Deliverable Requirements: Prepare at minimum a 3-page CIO priorities report about these concerns. Make sure to cite your references using APA format.

Submitting your assignment in APA format means, at a minimum, you will need the following:

Title page: Remember the running head. The title should be in all capitals.
Length: 3 pages minimum, including an introduction and conclusion
Abstract: This is a summary of your paper, not an introduction. Begin writing in the third person.
Body: This begins on the page following the title page and abstract page and must be double-spaced (be careful not to triple- or quadruple-space between paragraphs). The typeface should be 12-pt. Times Roman or 12-pt. Courier in regular black type. Do not use color, bold type, or italics except as required for APA-level headings and references. The deliverable length of the body of your paper for this assignment is 3 pages. In-body academic citations to support your decisions and analysis are required. A variety of academic sources is encouraged.
Reference page: References that align with your in-body academic sources are listed on the final page of your paper. The references must be in APA format using appropriate spacing, hanging indent, italics, and uppercase and lowercase usage as appropriate for the type of resource used. Remember, the Reference p