Healthcare Information System Recommendation

Proposed Healthcare Information system

A suitable health information system [HIS] for the organization is computerized provider order entry (CPOE). The computer application supports electronic patient information entry and sharing between providers, other healthcare staff, and departments logged into the system (HealthIT, 2018). CPOE takes over from the physical communication between providers using handwritten notes and verbal to computerized sharing. The system allows practitioners to order patient services such as laboratory tests and receive feedback with automation and clinical decision-making support.

Compatibility with Organization’s Mission, Goals, and Values

CPOE is suitable for the organization, following its potential to support mission goals and values. The system matches the organization’s mission through its support for efficient and accurate care. The facility’s mission is to improve community health through excellent clinical care. CPOE provides for excellence by maximizing well following a structured and automated system that ensures the most appropriate patient plan, including diagnoses, procedures, and medication.

The system is also compatible with the organization’s value of teamwork following its support on information sharing. CPOE provides real-time connection and information sharing across different healthcare professionals within a facility to improve collaboration in patient care (Elshayib & Pawola, 2020). Another matched value is integrity following a template of sharing information and data security. CPOE is an electronic private data file through passwords on all outlets to allow providers to maintain confidentiality.

Core Functions and Impacts of the System on the Organization

Apart from compatibility with mission and goals, CPOE will benefit the organization through quality care and patient satisfaction following its various functions. The system will provide an electronic way of making a patient request, such as procedures leading to reduced errors, appropriate services, and patient safety (Elshayib & Pawola, 2020). Electronic information sharing eliminates barriers such as handwriting and omission of main orders and prescriptions. CPOE will also serve the organization in patient intervention planning through clinical decision support [CDS]. The system contains medical standards to reduce mental work in choosing procedures and medication (Elshayib & Pawola, 2020). Through CPOE, healthcare workers will work with ease to reduce burnout and increases productivity and accuracy. Another core function of CPOE that will benefit the facility is sharing information in real-time and across departments (HealthIT, 2018). The system connects different providers and departments to access data without waiting for physical files, which sometimes might go missing or unfilled. Such an approach will allow the organization to handle all its obligations and save costs related to data delay and unavailability.

Usability Factors Discussed with the Vendor

A discussion with the CPOE vendor included support for error prevention in recording patient information and making clinical decisions. Ensuring that the system supported precision was essential to have a technology that follows regulations to avoid wasting resources. Another discussed usability factor was patient safety while using CPOE. Patient safety involves choosing actions that do not make the situation worse. The factor was worth discussing since it is among the primary goal of a healthcare practitioner and an ethical principle. The vendor was also on task to explain CPOE support for data privacy. Healthcare organizations are supposed to ensure information confidentiality to avoid affecting patient dignity. A discussion of data privacy was essential to meet the law guidelines while ensuring that the facility supports ethical practices in protecting patient self-worth. A further usability factor that emerged was interoperability. HIS works with other established ones in an organization to allow continuity and maximize the benefits (Hebda & Czar, 2018). Therefore, it was vital to assess the interoperability of CPOE to ensure that it will fit within the existing system to maximize the benefits of technology without affecting others’ usefulness.

Strategies to evaluate Computerized Provider Order Entry’s Usability

The organization can determine CPOE usability through assessment of decision support. The safety, efficiency, and productivity of a HIS depend on its ability to support healthcare workers in decision-making (Rabiei et al., 2018). Another way of evaluating HIS’s usability is an analysis of user-friendliness. A HIS should facilitate readable and complete patient data to have a proper and accurate decision and affects care quality (Hebda & Czar, 2018). A further usability test is managing drug and procedure orders that involve practice errors, patient monitoring, and satisfaction. Through multiple requests, the facility can evaluate the system’s potential to detect patient reactions to drugs.

Another way to measure CPOE’s usability is through testing on alerts. System alerts enable providers to monitor patients in areas such as drug reactions (Rabiei et al., 2018). More evaluation strategies are by investigating the level of displaying all requests, including interrupted and discounted ones. A HIS should show all orders for a better patient follow-up to provide adequate services and deliver satisfaction.

Integration with other Products

CPOE will merge with other health technology such as billing in the facility along the information sharing path. The system generates different types of patient information and can give divergent summaries depending on queries. Since most systems use or output such information, CPOE will analyze and deliver the needed data, such as services that the facility provides to patients. CPOE is compatible with other systems such as CDS and billing to share patient information. The integration will increase the organization’s efficiency through enhanced communication and comprehensive information (Health informatics, 2010). Healthcare facilities rely on proper interaction and information sharing across departments. A system that supports the function will make the process swift leading to higher productivity, quality services, and improved patient satisfaction.

System Privacy and Security

The proposed CPOE system supports healthcare integrity by ensuring the privacy and security of patient data. Among the benefits is replacing physical files with electronic ones that are easier to secure from outsiders (Hebda & Czar, 2018). Computer stored data with passwords provides a safer storage method since third parties cannot obtain the key from a user’s mind. However, there are chances of leaving patients’ data open to expose the information to outsiders. CPOE also supports cloud saving that promises retrieval in case of computer damage or theft, leading to more security. Use of the internet in the cloud saves risks hacking and damage or theft of the data. Another way through which CPOE ensures data privacy and security is through electronic sharing to confine information possession within the necessary people since there are no hard copies that risk exposure.

Vendor Support with System Implementation

Where the organization adopts CPOE, the vendor will provide supportive services, including staff training in using the technology, installation, and maintenance. Vendors have manuals and also know how the program operates. The supplier will provide training to healthcare providers and other staff until they become conversant and efficient. Staff education in the use of HIS is important to maximize use and minimize resistance (Penoyer et al., 2014). Another support will be installation, such as a guide on the needed support technologies and ways to link CPOE with existing systems. The supplier will also provide maintenance services in case of failure or breakdown to allow continuity of its services and benefit the facility.

Vendor Reliability and Stability

The vendor will be reliable to provide the named services following an initial agreement before procurement of the CPOE. Provision of after-sale services such as training and maintenance is part of the terms and conditions, which, when broken, the supplier can lose. The vendor will also be reliable and stable since the company makes the system and does not sell as third party. There are experts with sufficient knowledge whom the facility can reach at any time. Furthermore, CPOE is an online-based system that the vendor can assess from any place, leading to the services’ reliability and stability due to minimized time and distance barriers.

The estimated cost of the Computerized Provider Order Entry

The approximate cost of CPOE is $10,000 until it starts working in the facility. One of the vendors, HarmoniMD, states the lowest price of its HIS as $1,500 without other charges such as installation (Pricing, n.d). The $10,000 will serve installation, acquire support technologies such as computers, and train staff and maintenance for approximately one year.

System Implementation Milestones and Timeline

The system will take around six months before it starts operating, as shown on the Gantt chart. In the first month, the facility will develop an inter-professional team to assess system requirements, including existing processes, data sources, and physical location (HealthIT, 2017). In the second and third months, the team will contact the vendor for system installation, including customization, installation of hardware, and testing. The vendor will also train the staff in the fourth and fifth months with other activities such as data conversion and system testing (Beeson, 2020). In the sixth month, the team will launch the system with programs such as communication approaches for identifying issues and concerns.

Figure: System Implementation Milestones and Timeline

Time in months /stage 1 2 3 4 5 6
Workflow and organizational need analysis
System installation
Staff training
Going live

References

Beeson, K. (2020). EHR implementation plan: Your 8-Step checklist EHR in practice. EHR in Practice. Web.

Health informatics and technology: Interoperability, standards, and security (2020) [Video]. Walden University Brightspace. Web.

HealthIT (2017). The successful implementation of a health IT system is essential to delivering safe care for patients and a more satisfying work experience for clinicians and staff. Implementing health IT. Health IT. Web.

HealthIT. (2018). What is computerized provider order entry? Computerized provider order entry: The basics. HealthIT. Web.

Hebda, T., & Czar, P. (2018). Handbook of informatics for nurses and healthcare professionals (6th ed.). Pearson.

Penoyer, D. A., Cortelyou-Ward, K. H., Noblin, A. M., Bullard, T., Talbert, S., Wilson, J., Schafhauser, B. & Briscoe, J. G. (2014). Use of electronic health record documentation by healthcare workers in an acute care hospital system. Journal of Healthcare Management, 59(2), 130-144. Web.

Pricing (n.d). HarmoniMD. Web.

Rabiei, R., Moghaddasi, H., Asadi, F., & Heydari, M. (2018). Evaluation of computerized provider order entry systems: Assessing the usability of systems for an electronic prescription. Electronic Physician, 10(8), 7196. Web.

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