Chapter 11: Health Information Systems

Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for Health Information Technology

Agency within the federal government tasked to be the health information technology resource to the nation

Federal Health IT Strategic Plan 2015-2020

Issued by the ONC

Vision: High-quality, lower costs, healthy population, and engaged people

Mission: Improve the health and well-being of individuals and communities through the use of technology and health information that is accessible when and where it matters most

What are the four overarching goals for health IT?

• Advance person-centered and self-managed health

• Transform healthcare delivery and community health

• Foster research, scientific knowledge, and innovation

• Enhance the nation’s health IT infrastructure

Knowledge

The application of experience to information that provides value to the information beyond only serving as evidence of actions taken

Data

Raw facts and figures without context or meaning

Information

Data that have been processed in a useful and meaningful manner

Health IT

Used by the ONC because of its focus on information technology for healthcare

Health Information System

Used to describe the full scope of adopting health information technology

System

Refers to components that work together to accomplish a goal

Computerized Provider Order Entry (CPOE) System

Used by providers to enter orders for lab tests as well as medications and other procedures, lab testing devices, pharmacy systems to obtain drug information that may impact test results, and destination systems, such as the EHR system to convey results to providers and billing systems to capture charges for the lab tests

Diagnostic Studies

All diagnostic services of any type, including history, physical examination, lab, X-Ray and others that are performed or ordered pertinent to the patient’s reasons for the encoutner

Logical, Observations, Identifiers, Names, and Codes (LOINC)

Federally mandated for ordering and reporting lab results

Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) of 1988

Federal regulatory standards that ensure quality laboratory testing

Modified in 2014 to ensure patients may have direct access to their test results, even prior to review by their ordering provider

What ensures the most efficient and effective use of technology?

Workflow and process designs

Portals

Windows into information systems

Used to connect EHR to the patients

Health Information Exchange (HIE)

Enable sharing of health information across disparate entities

To support authorized exchange of health data across entities that subscribe to the service

Maintains patient and provider directories and provides consent management and security services

Some can offer clearinghouse services for revenue cycle management

Offer data aggregation and analysis, quality measure data collection and reporting, and business intelligence services

Meaningful Use (MU) Program

Now known as promoting interoperability