Unplanned IM/IT and increased costs
The information technology department deals with the collection of standards and tools that the company uses to improve the ability of the system. On the other hand, unplanned information management causes disastrous impacts to the business. First, when the health care sector fails to conduct preventative work makes the problems inevitable. The organization usually incur the repair costs regularly. Many times technicians avoid following the change management process complicating problems. Also, organizational employees usually gain access to many IT/IM components. Such situations increase preventable issues and incidents. Further, unplanned information management increase inconsistencies associated with user applications and configurations. This compel the mastery of training and configuration skills of the health care system difficult. In addition, unplanned development of the information system in the health care is associated with human errors, product and releases failures.
What is a CMDB, and why it is an important component of IM/IT service support?
The configuration management database (CMDB) is an important component in the healthcare sector. The configuration management database contains all the entities of information technology as configuration items. Also, CMDB maintains data of the configuration items and their relationships. The configuration management database provides integration and automation of the tasks in the IT/IM service support as well as in the information technology property management. The CMDB in the health care IT department it is associated with improving service delivery and achieving continuous compliance. The configuration management database is mostly developed to meet various functions.
First, the configuration management database (CMDB) serve as a source of information about IT environment in the health care. A configuration management database is usually developed on a federated architecture that provide entry to a wide of information. The imperative requirement for federation is a strong data reconciliation capability. It is associated with the elimination of duplication that retains only one configuration per entity. Also, data reconciliation ensure it is attached to the configuration items.
Secondly, the configuration management database is involved in the flexibility of information model. The configuration management database is based on two methods. Most information technology departments including health care follow the bottom-up approach. It allows the organization management to reduce implementation effort and increasing time to value. Also, the bottom-up approach allows the implementation without the disruption of the services and cultural development. On the other hand, a good configuration management database should allow both approaches. In addition, it gives the information management the flexibility in implementing a configuration management database that matches the requirements.
Thirdly, a configuration management database maintains the policies that outline the expected standards of continuous compliance for a given service. The required standards include the details of datasets as configuration, performance and installation. The policies are dynamic and vary depending on the users, time and service. Also, a configuration management database (CMDB) maintain the process because information technology changes regularly. Therefore, the configuration management database plays an important role in policy automation. In the health care, information management is crucial. A strong control access is emphasized to achieve the level of confidentiality to patients and staff records. Therefore, the configuration management database must prevent unauthorized changes to the confidential data.
Finally, the configuration management database is used to discover the properties of the information technology/information management infrastructure. This entails obtaining the physical and logical relationships as well as to the services.
Five IM/IT service delivery processes
The information management and information technology comprise five service delivery interrelated processes. The foremost is financial management. It involved in managing money through budget and expenditures. Further, financial management process in health care must ensure the expenditure is within the budget and in compliant with related policies. The information technology affects the health care positively. The information technology has led to the introduction of computers in the health sector. Also, information technology provides for capacity management. It involves attempting to comprehend both the clinical and business needs. The information management is concerned with the level of service management. It involves reviewing the worthiness of services rendered. Finally, service continuity management involve restoring the information management services in the healthcare.
Main reasons for IM/IT service continuity plan failures
There are reasons associated with information management and technology service continuity plan failure. First, healthcare information systems perform sensitive functions such as saving patient lives. The failure in health care system is associated with serious harm to patients. Secondly, integration between different systems. For example, the patient data comes from various departments such as the X-rays and laboratory.
Increasing access and quality
Quality services offered in the health facilities increase access to health care. It can be achieved through strengthened primary care and coordination. Also, introduction of pay for performance programs can improve the quality while reducing cost. Further, the legislation of reforms that slow the growth of costs and improve the quality care. For instance, the introduction of the Affordable Care Act in the United States. Therefore, the measures will cut the costs while moving health care quality higher.
References
Asher, J. P. (2010). The right to health: A resource manual for NGOs. Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers.
Berg, M. (2004). Health information management: Integrating information technology in health care work. London: Routledge.
Englebardt, S. P., & Nelson, R. (2002). Health care informatics: An interdisciplinary approach. St. Louis: Mosby.
International Conference on Information Technology in Health Care: Socio-technical Approaches, W. (2007). Information technology in health care 2007: Proceedings of the 3rd international conference on information technology in health care : socio-technical approaches. Amsterdam: IOS Press.
Kovner, A. R., Knickman, J., Weisfeld, V. D., & Jonas, S. (2011). Jonas & Kovner's health care delivery in the United States. New York: Springer Pub.
