|
Health
Information
Management
Managing
information can be of the most time consuming and costly
processes associated with health care. From the moment of
patient contact through treatment and billing, or the sourcing
and procurement of medical supplies, information management
processes are involved.
Improvements
in information management capabilities and effectiveness can
result in welcomed productivity increases and cost
reductions. It can have a positive impact on patient
safety and the overall patient experience with the health care system.
By
looking at information management as a process, health
care organizations will find opportunities to eliminate many non-value
added activities and reduce the amount of time and resources unnecessarily
tied up in managing information. To do this will require
the effective use of information technology.
Information
technology itself is not a value-added process. Having
accurate, timely, and accessible information that supports
processes that add value to patients are. This is a
distinction worth remembering.
Information
technology can be a powerful enabler, improving an organizations
ability to effectively manage
information, adding value to patients and to the
financial health of the organization. If planned and
deployed poorly, information technology can just shift costs to
managing technology, introducing new processes that do not add
value.
Information
management process excellence must be a core capability for any
health care organization interested in improving their operating
performance. This starts by evaluating current processes
in place for managing information, assessing how information
plays a role in all processes that support the business, and
determining current strengths, weaknesses, and capabilities.
Understanding
the current state-of-affairs will provide a baseline to further
evaluate how well information management processes are
supporting or hindering the organizations ability to fulfill its
mission and achieve its goals. It will help begin the
process of identifying areas for improvement and
developing strategies to build stronger information management
capabilities.
The
effective use of information technology is essential to achieve breakthrough information management performance and
improve the performance of other processes such as patient
diagnoses or prescribing medications.
Today,
there are no excuses to still be processing mountains of paper
or to have redundant, inaccurate information being re-keyed into
multiple systems, causing errors that can effect patients or
waste resources trying to clean up after the problem. For
innovative organizations, process
digitization can lead to significant improvements in work
flows, productivity, and information exchange.
While this
may be nothing new, remembering
that information technology is there to serve the organization
and it's patients, and that managing information is itself a
process to be performed effectively, will help guide strategy,
technology procurement, and deployment decisions.
|
