Community health centers in Florida have tried gaining the HIMSS Davies award of excellence, over the past ten years. Community health centers Inc. (CHC) will be the basis of the analysis, to expose how the organization has met HIMSS Davies award of excellence statutes. Since 2012, CHC has achieved the improvement in its electronic health record system, which is aimed at acquiring as much information as possible about its patients. The management of chronic diseases like diabetes and cancer is not an easy task, and patient follow-up and care required to achieve an adequate diagnosis (Hamilton, 2009).
Community health centers Inc. has met the requirements of HIMSS Davies award of excellence. For instance, the pre-visit planning program, self-management program, clinical decision support systems, and patient education programs are some of the major achievements of the patient information systems. Due to sound strategies employed by community health centers organization, efficiency, and timely diagnosis has duly been achieved. Apparently, CHC Inc. has made excellent patient population control and management, which makes treatment, and sharing of patient information with the main stakeholders an easy task (Duman, 2003).
Furthermore, disease management has been active since the induction of electronic health records. Patients can even use available information to their detriment. For example, self-management is a template that allows patients to monitor their outpatient behavior, and doctors can also observe their feeding habits and progress in diagnosis. Self-care was not well adopted by CHC Inc. in 2012, as the proportion of patients who were enrolled in the self-care program was not reputable. CHC Inc. had achieved a self-management turnout at 99% of its patients, meaning that vitals of patients suffering from chronic ailments could be easily monitored. Therefore, the organization had set its pace towards the achievement of HIMSS Davies award for excellence by having an improved patient care and coordination of its key departments.
Moreover, patients could access their electronic healthcare record (EHR), and get in touch with their doctors in case they got complications in their treatment. Apart from the availability of electronic health records, pre- visit planning program helped cut down running costs for community health centers Inc. Scheduling of patients before visiting the medical institutions ensures that the facilities in the hospital were less congested, and thus services disseminated to the patient are exemplary (Hamilton, 2009).
Superior health services mean that ailments are diagnosed correctly, accurate information on patients kept, and hence other agencies in need of patient information find it easier and less costly. CHC Inc., also incorporated a healthcare system to help take care of the elderly in the community.as a person’s age advances, their vitals grow weak, and thus more susceptible to chronic diseases, which are not easy to manage (Davis, 1994). Through the development of elder care system, the elderly can now get a proper diagnosis and even get drug prescriptions online, at their convenience. Doctors and other medical practitioners can then make required follow-ups, until the patient has fully recovered.
Another important aspect of meeting the requirements of HIMSS Davies Awards is patient education. After gathering necessary data from patients, CHC Inc. went ahead and started patient education programs, where patients were taught about their current ailments, and the best practices to adopt, and avoid further disease occurrence. Most patients educated had diabetes. Chronic diseases call for personal management and also require a change in a patient’s lifestyle (Davis, 1994).
Furthermore, the most notable advancement due to the adoption of electronic health records is that patients could be treated within, and after working hours. Treatment after working hours was meant possible as doctors could access patient’s records, determine the type of ailment the patient is suffering from, and then determining the best course of action. After working hour’s treatment could be done in various forms. For instance, doctors and nurses could enforce self-management program, or avail clinical information to the nearest health center.
Learning outcomes that the course reflected in community health centers Inc. case study is that disease management through information technology advancement was achieved, to enable doctors to manage chronic illness and other ailments conveniently. According to HIMSS Davies award of excellence, information technology on patients should be able to depict an integration of efficiency in healthcare service dissemination (Duman, 2003). Moreover, pre- visit planning and clinical decision support system for doctors initiated by community health centers Inc., helps the institution to treat even patients with low health insurance premiums. Hence technical and operational competence is achieved by gaining patient data (Duman, 2003).
In summary, being the administrator of community health centers Inc. would give me the incentive to move the organization up the ladder of excellence. For example, improving the leadership of CHC Inc. would be my priority in developing the Excellency of the organization. Although the organization portrays exceptional strategic excellence, leadership is still a key player towards prosperity (Hamilton, 2009). Thus, it will be necessary to centralize administration, to make easier decision-making processes, and cut down operational costs. Additionally, I would vouch for increased frequency in monitoring patients for a period of one year, to a rate of once every four months, to ensure consistency in patient information.
References
Davis, M. W. (1994) Computerized healthcare information: Developing electronic patient information systems. Chicago III: Probus Pub. Co.
Duman, M. (2003) Producing Patient information: How to research, develop and produce effective information sources. London King’s Fund.
Hamilton, B. (2009). Electronic health records. Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education.
