Overview
Before tackling the relationship the HITECH Act have on scorecards, key performance and dashboards, defining its context is equally important as exploring the aforementioned relationships. Having said that, HITECH Act is defined as the is a law signed by President Obama on February 17, 2009 with an objective to improve the quality of healthcare while maintaining a reasonable cost and invest on related infrastructure to make the America’s medical records completely computerized. In addition, the full implementation and use of EHR (electronic hospital records) will help to reduce waste, the need for repeat medical tests and eliminate red tape (Athenahealth, Inc., 2009). The intended budget to fully implement EHR is $19.2 Billion to be disseminated across all healthcare providers in the next five years from its conception. However, the integration of EHR will impose specific guidelines to hospitals that will measure impact of the said legislation to hospital efficiency and performance. This is when key performance indicator, dashboard and scorecard come into relationship with HITECH Act.
Relationship to Scorecard, Dashboards and Key Performance Indicators
The transformation of critical data into actionable information is becoming a major game changer for healthcare provider. Those that are still living in the age of paper archives to store patient health records are being left behind by more technology advanced data management systems of innovative healthcare providers. The conception of HITECH Act encompasses a rule in which healthcare providers need to comply in order to standardize and significantly improve the quality of service. However, putting all delicate information in relation to HIPAA compliance signifies security issues given that electronic information’s vulnerability to get compromised is high (Hoehl, 2010). Because of the need to sustain security over critical information while adhering to legislative guidelines encompasses a need to effective and constant security assessment in the form of security scorecards. This is when the relationship between scorecard and HITECH Act is established.
It is a streamline implementation that entails faster results. Balance scorecards indicate the alignment of the business activities to the organization’s vision and strategy. It is a form of strategic management system that goes beyond measuring financial performance in order to gain a holistic view of the business (Cognizant, 2011). The relationship it has with HITECH is simple. The legislation entails better management of patient’s records, putting all medical records into one database that can be easily accessed by hospital’s entire network. The capacity of the hospital to gain access to information in real-time will enable faster and efficient service delivery. High performance service delivery on the other hand is measure by scorecards to stipulate how such improvements impact business performance as a whole. In addition, scorecard also measures the level of security that the hospital integrates into the system to ease vulnerability.
When it comes to key performance indicators and dashboard, they are set of tools and performance matrix that measures how well the business hits the targets, tolerance threshold and benchmarks including industry standards and best practices. Relating that to HITECH Act guidelines stipulates the type of strategies that hospital management dedicate to address related risks compliance (Frost and Sullivan, 2011). Dashboards are user interface where information are integrated for several business resources such as EHR. Since HITECH Act mandates that healthcare providers be supposed to convert paper records into electronic form, there is a need for a substantial tool to integrate the amount of existing information for optimum utilization by the hospital’s network of services. This will also help the management to gain insight on the potential risks and determine the management’s level of compliance by looking into related metrics such as the key performance indicators. Performance indicators serve as the gauge meter for the management where the desired performance level was set and to be targeted.
On the other hand, dashboards will provide the graphical representation of the important data. Since information are integrated into the system, the management will be provided with holistic understanding of the hospital’s performance based on all matrices. For example, the hospital might want to monitor if the hospital is able to reach the targets set by the key performance indicators and assess the risks involve with the measurements in accordance to HITECH and HIPPA compliance.
The Role of Discipline in Successful use of EHR
Being exposed to critical information such as EHR encompasses a strong sense of responsibility and great deal of integrity on the part of the hospital management and its employees. Therefore, implementation is a top priority in ensuring that the healthcare provider adheres to the rules set by the governing legislations regarding EHR. There are several characteristics that informatics professional should demonstrate in dealing with highly critical information. IT professionals play a significant role in the successful use of EHR because the frontline defense of EHR security starts from the adequate knowledge in information technology in establishing a secure and controlled environment for the EHR. For example, in order to successfully implement the platforms needed to implement the conversion of paper-based information into electronic form, the IT department should ensure that security measures are already in place before the EHR information are integrated into the system. In addition, the discipline also provides a framework where dashboards, scorecards and key performance indicators can be linked to the rules in the use of EHR information.
Master’s Program Concentration on Informatics
Masters in healthcare discipline combined with informatics should include instructions regarding the creation of scorecards, dashboards and performance indicator because it allows the principles of healthcare to be acquainted with the principles of information technology in which the use of EHR encompasses. The instructions in creating the aforementioned matrix and tools creates a prior familiarization on how the concepts can be applied during practice and to further establish sound practices in utilizing critical information. Having the ability to create scorecards and key performance indicators enables stronger management of the business while in tight compliance with applicable legislations.
References
Athenahealth, Inc. (2009). A Summary of the HITECH Act. Athenahealth, Inc. Whitepaper. Retrieved from http://www.athenahealth.com/_doc/pdf/HITECH_Fact_Sheet_Whitepaper.pdf
Cognizant (2011). Hospital Performance Management from Cognizant. Solutions Overview White Paper. Retrieved from http://www.cognizant.com/InsightsWhitepapers/Hospital-Performance-Management-from-Cognizant.pdf
Frost & Sullivan (2011). Health Information Technology: The Imperative of Risk and Compliance Management in the HITECH Age. A Frost & Sullivan White Paper. Retrieved from http://www.emc.com/collateral/analyst-reports/fs-health-information-technology-ar.pdf
Hoehl, M. (2010). Creating a monthly Information Security Scorecard for CIO and CFO. GIAC GSLC Gold Paper. Retrieved from http://www.sans.org/reading-room/whitepapers/leadership/creating-monthly-information-security-scorecard-cio-cfo-33588
