Assignment 2: Competiveness and Performance Effectiveness for Health Care IT Systems
Competiveness and Performance Effectiveness for Health Care IT Systems
Michelle Roberson
Dr. Renita Ellis
HSA 315
08-25-2015
COMPETIVENESS AND PERFORMANCE EFFECTIVENESS
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The management of health care organization needs to assess and understand the
efficiency and competitiveness of the information technology in their organization. The
information technology has become a crucial part of every kind of organization to improve the
day to day processes. The need for information technology cannot be undermined by any kind of
organization that believes in improving their competitive advantage as ell improving the services
provided to the clients. The use of technology will be needed in all levels of strategic
development and in sustaining the services rendered by the company in a way or the other. This
paper therefore discusses the importance of Information technology in terms of competitiveness
and performance in the company. The competiveness and performance cannot be separated from
each other when it comes to the healthcare set up. The main purpose therefore will be to bring
the understanding of different aspects as they relate to information technology and
competitiveness.
The first step will understand the responsibilities of the child information and chief
technology officer as well as giving an insight on the developing of technologies in the health
care sector that aim at improving the health care processes. It will also bring an understanding of
the significant method that the health care systems are supposed to use in order to prevent the
misuse of information about patient as well as hold to the privacy of the patients (Papanicolas
and Smith, 2013). Finally the paper will also suggest the best ways or a strategy for any form of
health organization that is in need of training the on technology as well as give an overview of
the best practices that can go hand in hand with the effective information technology and
strategic planning methods for the healthcare setting.
Characteristics and responsibilities of chief information officer
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In essence, the chief information officer and the technology officer are important figures
in every firm with an IT system. The services of these leaders are needed in the department since
they are the one that steers all the processes in the organization. They are involved in both
planning and implementation of the information technology strategy in the organization and
ensure that it is maintained in a way that it will bring forth the forecast outcomes. The
information officer is the one who designs the processes that help realize the need for having the
information technology in the organization. It is through the leadership of the officer that the
company improves the productivity and quality of services to the customers who visit the facility
from time to time (Lighter, 2011). His directives and suggestions are taken into account by the
organization management to warrant for investing in this area and promising to offer the required
results. The information officer is the one who guides on the direction to which the information
technology investment in the organization should follow as well as maintain the organization
performance in terms of information and communication dispensation and handling within the
organization and beyond. He or therefore needs to be current and updated to ensure that he
moves the organization at the pace of the dynamic nature of technology.
On the other hand, the technology officer is an important aspect in the same department.
In terms of the technology to be used, the infrastructure required and the set up for this
infrastructure, it is the information officer who holds this knowledge and is the one who designs
and trains on the operation the system. In essence he or she in the architect of the information
systems and is the one who ensure that the systems runs according to the set up. In essence he is
the chief engineer in terms of technology and with his or her expertise in engineering, the officer
help the organization in enhancing the technology and combining it with the day today function
of the organization.
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Health care system technology
As other sectors of the economy continue to grow there is also need to focus on the
investment on healthcare technology. This is an important sector not only to a government or
certain agency but also to every individual. To be able to achieve or realize the much needed
results in every form of health care it is necessary to incorporate information systems in the
healthcare sector. In essence every organization including them that offer health services cannot
work without information since it is this information that helps them to create the strategies that
will help in improving the performance of the organization. Through the use of this information,
organizations are also able to improve their services as well as reduce the cost of offering these
services at a greater extent. There are therefore different technologies that can be used in the
healthcare process that can help improve the processes. The first and the best of the technology is
the use of the electronic Medical record system that will revolutionize the way the medical
practitioners have been dealing with the issues of health information exchange as well as the way
of prescribing drugs to the patients (In Glowik and In Smyczek, 2015). The other technology is
on the therapeutic consultation program which will also change the way the medical officers
utilize the drug reviews as well as provide patients with information they require most in
handling their health conditions. The consultation program will give the patient a better way of
taking drugs as well as give the medical officers an easy time following up the patients whenever
they might be in the process of improving the much needed health care services.
With these healthcare technologies, there will be reduction of physical inconveniences for
doctors and patients brought by failure to have a necessary follow up as well as the use of
ineffective prescriptions on the drugs. Considering these two issues put the patients especially
those with chronic diseases at a risk, there are need to ensure that the technologies are
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implemented as needed. With the technology it will be simple and easy to understand a patient
health history as well understands how they have been fairing on the previous visits without
having to undergo a single process every time that the patient visits the facility. When this is
supplemented by the electronic health records and health information exchanges between the
medical practitioners, it becomes simpler for the improvement of medical services among
patients. Doctors and other practitioners can use this information, which is accessible online to
monitor the patient at any given time and from different locations across the neighborhood, state
or country. It is through this record that the patients will be sure that the service or the drugs they
get is in compliance with what is prescribed and recommended by the doctor. This will therefore
reduce the cases of wrong medication has been happening in the past where the Electronic
records
Preventing the misuse of information in the healthcare setting
In some cases, health information has been misused either intentionally or
unintentionally. This has affected the privacy of patients as well as other issues in the healthcare
organization. It is good to understand that one of the ethical codes of every organization is
holding on to secrecy and privacy. If the information goes to the wrong hands such information
could be placed in use for wrong purposes such as getting to know the patient or using the
information for personal gains. This is a misuse of information and thus shield be protected
though protecting both the information technology assets as well as security systems. Any
information involving a selected patient should be held with a lot of privacy and should not be
accessible to everyone in the organization.
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With the use of data encryption technique provided by the information systems, it will be
possible to uphold the privacy of this date. The encryption protects the data from being read by
unauthorized person as it moves through different avenues to different destination. Hackers are
known to tap such kind of information and therefore cannot get to understand it in cases where
there is an extreme data encryption. It will also be good to ensure that the system has
authentication that allows only the specific people to access information. This is achieved
through the use of usernames and personal identification numbers or codes that are only know to
people authorized to own a user account into the system. This authentication numbers cannot be
share among different people and therefore increases the security of the system.
The health organization can use the in service training where the providers will continue
to learn the systems as they continue using them. With the increases need to advance to the usage
of the information technology, the workflow is going to rise and therefore the employee will
need to understand the system as they continue using it. This kind of training will improve the
standards and procedures of doing job in the company as well help realize the best practices for
the healthcare organization. there is no way that the workers can understand everything at once
since new issues will keep on arising from day to day activities which will then teach a new
technique to the health care worker and the system users in general.
With the adoption of the information technology in the healthcare setting the organization
will reduce misappropriation as well as underuse of resources. This will direct to the success of
the organization. In every effective and efficient information technology alignment, there will be
need to have a fully-fledged ICT department that stands by itself. This department will be
independent of other department and will steer the implementation and the use of system and
technologies in a better way. This department will be able to make own decisions and align them
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with the organization goals and objectives as well as ensure that all the problems are addressed in
the appropriate manner.
Together with this it will be important to ensure that every department is in line with the
needs of the steering information technology department. This will only be possible when there
is a head of IT in every department where the chief information officer can liaise in order to
effectively work with each member of the organization and realize the needs and problem and
then giving a solution to them. With liaison personnel in every department it will be simple to
control the use of the system in appropriate manner (Eyob and Tetteh, 2012). The other best
practice is involving every department in the development of projects and other organization
needs.
The technology development in the healthcare setting can be a major achievement
especially in the modern society where technology has become effective and accessible. With
proper planning as well as implementation of information technology strategy in the
organization, it will be possible to run the organization effectively and ensure there is high
performance of all the departments. Some of issues affecting the health care organizations in
many cases such as patient privacy, improper follow up as well as prescription will be a thing of
the past meaning that the doctors will be more effective and their performance is going to
improve.
COMPETIVENESS AND PERFORMANCE EFFECTIVENESS
References
Eyob, E., & Tetteh, E. (2012). Customer-oriented global supply chains: Concepts for effective
management. Hershey, PA: Information Science Reference.
In Glowik, M., & In Smyczek, S. (2015). Healthcare: Market dynamics, policies and strategies
in Europe.
Joumard, I., & Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. (2010). Health care
systems: Efficiency and policy settings. Paris: OECD.
Lighter, D. E. (2011). Advanced performance improvement in health care: Principles and
methods. Sudbury, Mass: Jones and Bartlett Publishers.
Papanicolas, I., & Smith, P. (2013). Health system performance comparison: An agenda for
policy, information and research.
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