Health Information Standards And Interoperability

Health Information Exchange (HIE) supports both transferring and sharing of health related information that is usually stored in multiple organizations, while maintaining the context and integrity of the information being exchanged (HIE, 2014). The goal of health information exchange is to expedite access to and retrieve clinical data to provide safe efficient, effective, equitable, timelier patient-centered care (HIE, 2014). HIE “provides access and retrieval of patient information to authorized users in order to provide safe, efficient, effective, and timely patient care” (HIE, 2014).

In 1996 president, Clinton signed an act called the Health Information Portability and accountability Act (HIPAA). HIPAA was put into action because many employers were denying health coverage for pre-existing conditions. The primary goal of the law is to make it easier for people to keep health insurance, protect the confidentiality and security of healthcare information and help the healthcare industry control administrative costs. Since 1996, HIPAA has a length timeline of new proposals and rules. Such as defining covered entities and authorized release of Protect health information (PHI). Since the initial act was since there have been many advancements in technology have made the government expand on the Act adding the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) act. This act was implemented for all health systems to move to electronic charting to minimize violations and security breaches.

The Health Information Exchange has proven to be convenient and beneficial in essence of improving patient and health professionals’ ability to access patient medical histories and records by providing quicker, more reliable access. There have been some challenges recognized with the implementation of the health information exchange. While speeding up the process of retrieval of sensitive medical records has been a blessing, the process of electronic delivery of medical records has also been seen by some as risky. The electronic health information exchange allows health care providers to release vital private patient healthcare information via

The Director of HIM is expected to keep learning in these areas since the pace of improvement and change is expeditious. As a HIM professional he/she will need to work jointly with internal and external partners to fulfill interoperability and health information exchange agreements. Also to govern the development of standards to meet organizational needs, and engage in the development of standards to address local and national industry needs (LaTour, Eichenwald, and Oachs (2013). This is where health informatics begins to play a significant role for the Director of HIM; who will serve as a professional resource for the healthcare organization who can participate in the standards development task by examining proposed standards and recommending new ones. The HIM viewpoint in the domain of data standards has never been so appreciated.

Few days after the treatment, the patient is ready to be discharged from the hospital. Although the patient is recovered, he needs a follow-up care because pulmonary hypertension treatments are complex according to the Mayo Clinic (2012). At this point of the process, I think the use of uniform hospital discharge data set (UHDDS) would be appropriate because it would allow the collection of patient data. In case, UHDDS principles are ignored the patient data reporting would be inaccurate (Giannangelo, 2010). If this happens, it would be complex to process to the follow-up care perfectly.

Health Information Exchange (HIE) is an electronic way for health care providers, patients, and payers to access and securely share medical information. There are data breaches everyday so patient and providers are concerned about the privacy and security of the HIE. Patients fear that sensitive health information related to dire diseases will be disclosed and used against them in decisions related to health insurance coverage or employment according to Mertz (2009, p.1). Providers are concerned that they will be breaking some health privacy laws of different states if they use a HIE. However, in essence as long as the HIE is following the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA) Privacy and Security Rules then the provider and patients should be safe. This is because HIPPA regulates covered entities such as healthcare providers, health insurers, healthcare clearing houses. They all must follow HIPPA regulations when accessing, using and disclosing your medical information.

Medicine has come a long way in the past few decades. Today’s doctors and nurses have some amazing tools at their disposals. The latest high tech equipment, modern pharmaceuticals and procedures but in many cases the most important tool that is needed is information. Patient information to be more precise is what is needed. Correct and up to the minute information about a patients history is a vital part of treatment. And yet for many, access to this most important vital tool still lingers in the dark ages. It can be found scattered around filing systems in different offices, highly subject to retrieval by hand and accessible only by phone or fax. There is a

For the electronic health record to be considered as a true clinical decision support system, it must be possible to access and integrate patients’ clinical information that is collected throughout their lives, guaranteeing up-to-date, safe and congruent information, immediately accessible at the place of care. Moreover, because of the considerable increase in the capacity to develop and manufacture systems that employ smart components highly integrated and miniaturized, wearable devices facilitate the home monitoring of patients with chronic diseases and their information should be integrated in existing electronic health records. Therefore, the interoperability is an essential requirement of eHealth to allow the integration of care into a

Policies and procedures govern the operations of health information exchange (HIE), and many factors must be taken into consideration during their development or revision. They set expectations for the workforce, delineate staff training and accountability, and must be part of an ongoing education and compliance program, enforced by leadership. When using this environment, you want to make sure the information is protected and secures the confidentiality of the person.

Health Information Exchange is a fairly new concept in the healthcare field. There were several precursors to HIE that were in use throughout the United States, these include Community Health Management Information Systems, Community Health Information Networks, and Regional Health Information Organizations. There are several data factors that make up a Health Information Exchange, the Electronic Health Record and the Personal Health Record. One of the biggest concerns about medical information is keeping it safeguarded, and there are three ways to accomplish this, with administrative, physical, and technical safeguards. Finally, there are a number of benefits to having a secure Health Information Exchange. The benefits include; accessibility, wherein multiple users can access the data at the same time, communication, wherein providers can share information quickly with no corruption of critical data, and better healthcare management. By building disease and chronic care registries, symptoms, treatment, and outcomes are tracked. The Health Information Exchange also enables contagious disease and bioterrorism tracking, but reporting symptoms to the CDC daily.

Emergency department’s health care information exchange was a proven factor in the Hawthorne effect. “The health care information exchange is a new type of electronic medical record that enables appropriate information sharing between caregivers at multiple health care facilities within a given region”( The Journal of Emergency Medicine, 2014). This system was able to survey patients who go to different medical facilities for treatment and medications. Patients who answered the survey were very truthful with their answers because of fear of being monitored. It saved medical providers time, cost effective and they were able to treat patients accordingly. Their response lead to quality care improvement across the board in treating patients

Unless the technical and political issues that have been affecting the Healthcare.gov website to malfunction are controlled and driven out, the new “Obamacare” will become a high cost and frustration for consumers to use. To date consumers in St Louis and the Metro East along with the rest of America, have not been thrilled with the Health Insurance Marketplace website at healthcare.gov, which is the initial step towards the new Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). The site has been choked with enrollees trying to meet the December 15, 2013 deadline, which is necessary if they want coverage that begins January 1, 2014. Open enrollment ends March 31, giving inadequate time to prepare for the major changes ahead in access to

Health Information Exchange (HIE) signifies the transmission of health-related data between healthcare facilities, according to national government standards. HIE remains an essential component of the health information technology (HIT). HIE technology must facilitate reliable and secure transfer of data between diverse systems and also enable access and retrieval of data. The purpose of HIE development is to improve healthcare delivery and information gathering. An HIE is not an information system within a single organization. A true HIE involves multi-directional flow of information electronically between providers (hospitals, physicians, clinics, labs) and other sources of administrative or clinical information provided by health care providers

A company’s goals, budget, resources and strategies should align with its Health Information Technology (HIT) strategies, healthcare trends and government regulations. According to Glandon, Smaltz, and Slovensky (2013) the external environment and the government have direct, indirect and substantial roles in the healthcare operations of a company.

international standards- Meant to be conducted in a diverse legal and cultural environment within the organization- to adhere to basic principles, promote value adding and improve orgnizational processes and operations,