Health info Tech Exam 1

Information Hierarchy

1. wisom

2. knowledge

3. information

4. Data

Healthcare data sources

• EHR and other health info systems allow for the ability to collate and analyze large amounts of data

• types

  • clinical

  • financial

  • admin

• as info collection grows data sets become bigger

• enabling the ability to improve health and financial decision making

Health informatics

field of info science concerned with the management of healthcare data and info through the application of computers and other tech

• focused on the improvement of individual and public health, healthcare, and research

• think about applying info more than tech

  • tech is the transportation

Biomedical informatics

• aka clinical, medical, and health informatics

• the most inclusive term because it encompasses bioinformatics, medical, dental, nursing, public health, pharmacy, medical imaging, and vet informatics

Information brokerage

sharing of a variety of inforamtion, back and forth between people and healthcare entities

informaticians

• harness the power of info tech to expedite the transfer and analysis of data

• leads to improved efficiencies and knowledge

Health info training

• IT knowledge about networks and systems

• usability

• Process re-engineering

• workflow analysis and redesign

• quality improvement

• project management, leadership, teamwork, implementation, and training

HealthData.gov

• makes federal datasets available to healthcare orgs, developers, and researchers

• currently over 23,000 data sets

• available in categories

  • health, state, national ,medicare, hospital, quality, community, and inpatient

• Can filter info

  • data type, subject, agency, date updated, coverage period, collection frequency, geographic area, release date, and output format

Whose involved with Health IT

• physicians and nurses

• patients

• hospitals and healthcare orgs

• support staff

• medical educators

• public health

• HIT vendors

• insurance companies

• medical research

• federal and state governments

American Recovery and Reinvestment act

• ARRA 2009

• five broad goals

• set the way for HITECH

ARRA goals

1. improve medical quality, patient safety, healthcare efficiency, and reduce health disparities

2. Engage patients and families

3. improve care coordination

4. ensure adequate privacy and security of personal health info

5. improve population and public healtj

HITECH

• health info technology for economic and clinical health act

• includes financial support for

  • reimbursement for use of certified EHRs

  • State health info exchange

  • comparative effectiveness research

  • regional extension centers to support HIT

  • health informatics curricula at community college and university layer

Patient Protection adn Affordable care act of 2010

• PPACA

• expanded medicaid coverage for uninsured

• created patient centered outcomes research initiative (PCORI)

• created the CMS innovation center that evaluates new healthcare delivery models

• created the readmission reduction program that will penalize hospitals with too many readmissions

Health IT orgs

• Department of health and human services (HHS_

  • Office of the national coordinator

  • office of the chief info officer

  • agency for healthcare research and quality

  • centers for medicare and medicaid

  • CDC

  • Health resources and services administration

  • National academies of medicine

  • Institute of medicine

  • National institute of standards and Tech

Institute of Medicine

• IOM est 1970

• became the National academy of Medicine

• independent, evidence based scientific advisor

• evaluates policy relevant to healthcare and provides feedback to the federal government and the public

• theory of adopting health info tech will promote safe, effective, patient-centered, timely, efficient, and equitable medical care

Office of the national coordinator for HIT

• ONC

• 2000-2024 responsibilites

  • EHRs

  • health IT cert

  • interoperability standards

  • nationwide health information exchange

  • information blocking enforcement

  • federal health IT policy

• 2026 on responsibilities

  • Health IT policy

  • interoperability

  • trusted exchange framework and common agreement

  • certification programs

Asssitant secretary for technology policy

• ASTP/ONC

• renamed in 2024-2026

Office of the Chief information officer (OCIO

• includes

  • Chief Info officer

  • chief tech officer

  • chief AI officer

  • Chief Data officer

  • Cybersecurity

  • Enterprise IT

Administration for a Healthy America (AHA)

• 14 billion daughters for

  • healthcare digital infrastructure

  • EHR modernization

  • interoperability

Health Tech Ecosystem Initiave

• launched July 30th, 2025

• national effort to create a connected digital healthcare environment in which patients, providers, payers, and health applications can securely exchange and use health information through interoperable tech and shared standards

Agency for healthcare research adn Quality

• AHRQ

• changed with improving the quality, safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of health care for all americans

• focuses on generating evidence about how health info tech, digital healht tools, clinical decision support, telehealth, AI, and data sharing tech improve health quality, safety, and outcomes

CMS

• healthcare insurer for about 100 million americans

• provided reimbursed for meaningful use of certified EHRs by clinicians and hospitals under medicare or medicaid

• From April 2014, they have paid out about $22 billion to clinicians and hospitals as part of the HITECH act meaningful use program

CDC

• supports public health informatics, surveillance, and data modernization initiaive

• uses national surveillance systems and data networks to monitor and improve public health

• provides access to public health data through CDC WONDER, the NCHS Data Query System, interactive dashboards, and data visualizations

International Health informatics

• other developed and developing countries share the same concern about the rise of chronic diseases and the high price tag

• most countries have implemented EHR and other tech in hope of better tracking chronic diseases

Driving forces of health informatics

• improve

  • healthcare efficiency and productivity

  • patient outcomes and safety

  • healthcare access

  • coordination and continuity of care

  • medical ed for both clinicians and patients

• Reduce healthcare costs

• standardize medical care

Barriers to HIT adoption

• not enough

  • time, expertise, or financial resources

• Lack of interoperability between technologies

• inadequate cost and return on investment data

• privacy concerns

• legal concerns

• changing behaviors is difficult

American Medical Informatics Association

• AMIA- 1989

• 5000 members

• Largely represents physicians and researchers involved with the biomedical sciences

• have working groups that focus on all aspects of health informatics

• membership includes subscription to the journal of the american medical informatics associations and applied clinical informatics

HIMSS

• global advisor, thought leader, and member association committed to transforming the health ecosystem

• offers a unique depth and breadth of expertise in health innovation, public policy, workforce development, research and analytics to leaders, stakeholders, and influencers, from across the ecosystem on best practices

• has more than individual and 570 corporate members

• provides multimedia education material

• maintains a health IT body of knowledge resource site

• annual meeting attracts 40k attendees and 1 vendors

• separate analytics section

AHIMA

• founded in 1928 primarily for paper-based medical record librarians

• leading voice and authority in health info

• mission: empowering people to impact health

• Vision: a world where trusted info transforms health and healthcare by connecting people, systems, and ideas

importance of informatics

• Healthcare has challenges in teh use of tech

• healthcare providers are knowledgeable in teh health of a person and providing healthcare

• IT professionals are knowledgeable in computer science and computer info systems

• subjective and hard to define

• understand the delivery of healthcare and the generation of information

• where info is needed and used and how it is exchanged

• informacists bring all aspects together to enhance patient care through the use of tech

Cliniian informaticians

• 2013 physicians can become board certified

• AMIA certified health informatics professionals

Nurse informaticians

• multiple nursing programs in the US offer a nursing informatics program with certification

• There has been a certification program for nurse informaticians available since 1995

Biomedical informatics

focuses on both traditional and computational methods in bio and medicine, and research in genomics, proteomics, pharmacology, and other medical disciplines

Consumer informatics

consumer health informatics roles involve advancing rhe use of and protecting consumer health data

imaging informatics

• deals with how images are obtained and processed

• concerned with analysis, distribution, and retrieval of images across the EMS

pharmacy informatics

• using data in the process of supplying medication

• demand is growing rapidly due to the wide-spread use of electronic prescribing and EMRs

Public health Informatics

• concern with the health of populations

• threats such as antibiotic resistant infections and biological attacks

• found in hospitals, gov agencies, or private businesses

Chief medical informatics Officer

• usually a physician who reports to the CIO or CEO

• less tech oriented and more tasked to help implement newer tech adn gain staff acceptance

• involved with training and adoption strategies as well and the development of policies

Interdisciplinary teams

• healthcare orgs are building interdisciplinary teams dedicated to focusing on and grappling with the deluge of opportunities

• local orgs have established tams focused on clinical informatics, analytics, AI, digital, and decision support to address the growing complexity and opportunities of healthcare data

Informaticits roles and responsibilites

• managing and using data for improving patient care

• gathering, storing, interpreting, and managing massive amounts of data

• analyzing data to help take crucial decisions and facilitate action

• developing data driven solution for improving the health of patients

• collaborating with departments in the healthcare system and using data analysis to cut down costs and expenses

• designing and implementing tools for measuring data, patient care effectiveness, and processes

• Facilitating communication between the IT and regulatory departments, so that the former can understand requirements clearly

Data

• represents observations that capture various aspects

  • words, symbols, measurements, statistics

  • describes and event

  • not necessarily useful for decision making

  • healthcare data are raw health care facts

Data organizations

• image files (JPG< GIG< PNG)

• text files

• Sound files (WAV,MP3)

• Video files (WMV, MP4)

Data to info

• data may lack meaning and qualifiers

• Must be standarized so computers understand eachother, and interoperability will be possible

Infomration

• Processed data

• data can be info when it is organized

• it is data or fact with meaning from which conclusions can be drawn

Info to knowledge

• EHRs are a huge source of healthcare data to info

  • they contain both structured (diagnosis codes) and unstructured text (free text or natural language)

• The clinical data warehouse (CDW) can help convert info to knowledge

Knowledge

• info that has been processed, understood, and integrated with experience, rules, and expertise so it can guide actions, decisions and problem solving

• Ex

  • obese patients are more likely to develop type 2 diabetes

Uses of healthcare data and info

• no longer just a byproduct

• asset

• tool

• static and dynamic

• immediate and future

• more valuable the more it is used

• immeadiate and future patient care

• communication

• legal documentation

• operations

• billing and reimbursement

• research

• quality management and improvement

• population health

Primary data sources

• patient

  • symptoms and why they want care

• Health record

  • clinicians and otehr healthcare providers documenting

    • observations, treatment, care provided, and results

Secondary data sources

• derived from primary data sources

• Includes

  • registries, indices, databases

Structured data

• data that are organized and easily retrievable and interpreted by traditional databases and models

• data that a computer can act upon

• built with structures and protocols

• This data can be referenced by other parts of the computer system

Examples of structured data

• lab orders and results

• medication orders

• MARS

• structured charting and other doc

• registration info

• master patient index data

• claims data

• medical device data

• 
  

16 chapter 2 healthcare data