Hospitals, health systems, and other providers are inundated with data more than ever before. This is in large part because of the move to value-based care. Over the past decade, these providers have increasingly evolved how they examine and put health data to use. As the revolution continues, it’s clear that “policy surrounding health IT has “yet to be burned onto the healthcare industry’s hard drive.” Experts say that means professionals in this field “should pick up the mouse and help design that policy.”
Let’s look at 3 ways that strategically managing health information technology impacts the healthcare community.
#1: The field will continue to evolve
Hospitals and health systems are indeed analyzing and protecting an abundance of data, an initiative that requires a “combination of business, science and information technology.”
That also requires experts who can adapt to changing technology in order to maintain database systems and securely handle protected health information (PHI). This information must be accurately entered and easily located as well as verified and updated by providers. When health information experts lean into their role as leaders in the evolution of technology and healthcare practices, they help “harness, analyze, and turn data and information into intelligence.”
#2: Managing data is vital to quality patient care
Health information systems aid in improving cost control as well as increasing the timeliness and accuracy of patient care. They “encompass the range of technology in healthcare used to acquire, store, deliver, and analyze medical data.” In the hospital environment, this technology is one of the most important components to the delivery of high‐quality and safe care. In particular, healthcare provider order entry can reduce medical errors while systems that display recently completed laboratory testing may decrease redundant testing.
As the saying goes, health information is human information. Having the right health information technology in place allows providers to:
- secure the ability to store and retrieve data and rapidly communicate patient information in a legible format
- improve medication safety through increased legibility
- decrease the risk of medication errors
#3: Health information experts impact the shift to value-based care
The right combination of tools and technologies assists healthcare providers in their transition to value-based care. Accurate data is crucial to the efforts of organizations to “quantify their commitment to value-based and high-quality care” as well as tackle other challenges such as negotiating contracts between hospitals and payers. That combination of resources and accuracy in data relies on empowering health information experts. These experts also enable clinicians to emphasize digital patient-centered solutions.
