Health Information Systems Fundamentals chapter 1

Flashcards covering key vocabulary and concepts from the lecture notes on Health Information Systems Fundamentals, including strategic planning, governance, management activities, data concepts, regulatory compliance, security, and core HIS components.

HIS Fundamentals

Key skills, training, methods, standards, and principles guiding the planning, design, testing, implementation, maintenance, and enhancement of Health Information Systems (HIS), including regulatory compliance, risk management, standards, governance, and policy.

HIS Strategic Planning

A process that aligns Health Information Systems (HIS) and related technologies with an organization's strategic business directions and initiatives, supporting and enabling the accomplishment of these strategies.

Governance (in HIS context)

The use of consistent management methods, policies, decision rights, and processes across all units and departments within an organization, supported by structural methods like steering committees and a culture of ethics and accountability.

Managing HIS

Key activities involved in overseeing Health Information Systems, including planning, budgeting, system selection, system implementation, managing changes, and managing vendors.

HIS Planning and Budgeting

The process of developing annual or near-term plans and budgets for Health Information Systems (HIS), guided by the organization's strategic business plan and reflecting its business and clinical strategies, often based on a 5- to 15-year view of HIS strategies.

HIS Selection

The process of deciding which new software systems to integrate into an organization, requiring justification for new systems over existing ones, and typically overseen by an HIS Steering Committee.

Implementing HIS

A set of activities that transforms a software system from a business plan into a fully utilized Health Information System, encompassing activation of new software and hardware, and a carefully designed training program for end-users.

Managing Change (in HIS context)

The process of handling the introduction of a new Health Information System, involving collaboration with interdisciplinary teams, end-users, management, and clinical staff on design, training, testing, and activation.

Managing Vendors (in HIS context)

The process of overseeing external companies that provide and support Health Information Systems (HIS) software, hardware, and services, recognizing them as for-profit corporations.

Harvesting the Yield from HIS

The process of taking full advantage of the data and information resources created by Health Information Systems (HIS) to generate new knowledge through analytics, business intelligence, and clinical intelligence, thereby increasing the value and ROI of the HIS.

Data Management and Stewardship

The practice of ensuring that the definition of each data element is accurate and consistent, managed according to organizational goals, and regularly checked for consistency, accuracy, accessibility, and safety.

Data

Elementary description of things, events, activities, and transactions.

Information

Data organized so that they have meaning.

Knowledge

Accumulated learning and expertise as they apply to a current problem.

Business Intelligence (BI)

Analytical systems, resources, data management, and personnel capabilities that provide insights and knowledge.

Clinical Intelligence (CI)

Analytical systems, resources, data management, and personnel capabilities that provide insights and knowledge specifically for clinical problem-solving and decision-making.

Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Analytical systems, resources, data management, and personnel capabilities that provide insights and knowledge, often by mimicking human cognitive functions.

Health Informatics

The use of biomedical data, information, and knowledge for scientific inquiry, problem-solving, and decision-making, motivated by efforts to improve human health and allowing organizations to gain insights and knowledge.

HIS Regulatory Compliance and Risk Management

Adherence to healthcare regulations such as HIPAA, MACRA, and Department of Health Services (DHS) regulations, driven by factors like payment by government/third-party insurance, fraud prevention, and the protection of patient safety, data, and privacy.

HIPAA (Health Information Portability and Accountability Act)

A U.S. law primarily focused on protecting patient safety, data, and privacy within healthcare information systems.

MACRA (Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act)

A U.S. law related to Medicare access and the Children's Health Insurance Program, cited as a key regulation for Health Information Systems.

HIS Security

A primary goal in healthcare focused on protecting Health Information Systems (HIS), data, and protected health information (PHI) from threats like hackers and ransomware, with prevention being among the highest priorities.

Protected Health Information (PHI)

Sensitive patient information, the security of which is a primary goal in healthcare, requiring prevention strategies against threats like hackers.

Health Information Systems (HIS)

An organized combination of system components, including infrastructure, hardware, middleware, application software, and devices, intended to support an organization or key processes in health care.

Technology Infrastructure

Elements of infrastructure including technology and network components such as fiber optics, routers, and switches; bandwidth connectivity; middleware; intranet; Internet; and extranet capabilities.

Hardware

The backbone of computing environments (whether in a data center or cloud-based), providing the technology upon which software operates, accessed by end-users.

Software

Applications that can be clinical, administrative, analytic, or business-oriented in functionality, with core programs in the clinical arena including EHR systems.

Middleware

Software that connects software applications to the data and technology supporting them, acting as a transaction layer to enable communication and data management for multiple or distributed software applications.

Networks

Computers linked together to exchange data using technical and data connections, forming a network via linkages enabled through fiber optics, cables, wires, routers, switches, Wi-Fi, and other technologies.

End-users

Clinical professionals, business people, and analysts who use systems and information to meet their professional goals and obligations, performing work in areas such as clinical, business, informatics/analytics, and patient care.

User Interface (UI)

The means by which a user connects to an HIS or computer, activated through methods such as typing on a keypad, speaking into a voice-activated device, or other input mechanisms.