Healthcare Industry Is a Wide Industry to Manage It’s Different

Question: Who Requirements Is To Apply Information Technology (IT) In Healthcare? Answer: Introduction Healthcare industry is a wide industry and to manage its different activities and multiple records of information regarding employees and patients, Information Technology (IT) can be used. Today, various hospitals or healthcare institutions are already switched to IT and getting various benefits. IT has automated the various healthcare related functionalities and it leads to time and cost savings. There are various other positive impacts of Information Technology on Healthcare industry that we will discuss further in report and besides this, we will also focus on some essential points regarding IT impact on this business (Asian Healthcare Management System, 2017). Discussion It is an important segment of this report to discuss key points that why IT is important for business survival, how business uses IT, benefits and advantages of IT for selected business etc. Does Healthcare Business needs IT? IT in Healthcare is also known as Health IT and basic need of Information Technology in Healthcare includes designing, developing, creation, maintenance and use of information systems in this industry (SearchHealthIT, 2017). Besides this, to improve quality of healthcare, Information Technology is also used in large countries like USA. To fulfill another needs of healthcare industry such as improvement in medical care, lower costs, error reduction, and enhancement in efficiency and to improve customer satisfaction, implementation of information technology is required and in some hospitals automated and interoperable healthcare Information systems are already used to fulfill these needs of healthcare industry (Ahrq.gov, 2017). To provide medical education, Information Technology is also considered useful. With the implementation of IT in Healthcare and Medical Science, a significant change is found that most of medical students are computer literate these days and to explore themselve s in their education, they can use internet via computers, mobile, laptops and another devices. Therefore, to assist medical or healthcare education, there is need of Information Technology. To achieve goal of online teaching classes for medical or healthcare students, IT is the best option. Besides this, the need of rapid communication and information sharing to remote locations can be fulfilled with the help Information Technology by using emails, messages and online calling. To get latest information about healthcare industry from around the world, there is need of Information Technology. These are some essential reasons that show the need of Information Technology in Healthcare Industry. Importance of IT for Business Survival? For healthcare business survival, Health IT is important because due to this healthcare providers can manage patient care by using and sharing health information. Instead of using less securing manual records, private and secure electronic health records can be used to share health information where and when needed. Besides this, Information Technology in Healthcare can improve the quality and cost-effectiveness of healthcare. Besides this, with the help of Information Technology, Healthcare providers can get following benefits (Ortiz and Clancy, 2017): Health IT can provide accurate and complete information about health of a patients. By getting this information, providers can give the best possible care to patients in their routine visit and as well as in a medical emergency. Information Technology provides help to coordinate with care givers about a critical case, those are available at remote locations. In emergency cases, this type of help is necessary. IT is also a secure way to share information with patients and their family members over the internet. With this, patients and their caregivers can get updates about patients problem and treatment for that problem and also can take part in decision making about healthcare of patient. Information Technology has various advanced techniques that can be used in healthcare industry to diagnose health problems quickly with very less chances of errors and at lower costs (B, 2017). Requirements to apply Information Technology (IT) in Healthcare After knowing about importance of Information Technology in Healthcare, it is cleared that Health IT should be implemented in healthcare organizations. But before start implementation of Information Technology in Healthcare, it is necessary to know about its requirements (Healthit.ahrq.gov, 2017). The requirements to apply IT in healthcare includes Cost, Planning, Designing, Hardware/Software Components, Installation and Training (Buntin et al., 2017). Cost: The cost of implementing IT applications in Healthcare is less costly than conventional technologies that were used for executing various healthcare operations and functions. According to analysis, the estimated budget to apply IT in healthcare can be $80000 and more. It depends upon size of hospital and their capacity to invest money in IT. Planning: The planning is also an essential step to take before start execution of IT in healthcare. In this planning process, analysis about tools and technologies that are required to implement in healthcare organization or hospital should be done such as Healthcare Information System. Besides this, requirements of hardware and software components, their cost and vendors of Healthcare Information System should also be planned appropriately in this planning process. This will help to make decision to management of healthcare organization that IT implementation is feasible for them or not. Designing: After knowing about IT systems or techniques and their components that we would like to use in healthcare organization, next step is to know about designing of system. It is responsibility of developers to design whole structure of Health Information System according to organizations operations and requirements, so that all employees can work properly with that system in quick way and can manage sensitive healthcare information of patients properly in a secure way. Hardware and Software Components: To execute any information system it is necessary that all its hardware and software components should work properly. Therefore to implement Health Information System in Healthcare organization its hardware equipments such as computer system. CPU, hard disk, chips, ports etc. and software components such as memory, operating system, network configuration software and another third party software solutions should be configured properly. It is necessary for appropriate working of health information system to get accurate outcomes from this. Installation and Training: It is also an essential requirement for applying IT to Healthcare. An appropriate installation of every component of health information system is possible through an IT expert. An expert has thorough knowledge about system configuration and about its security and privacy maintenance. Besides this, employees of healthcare organization should have knowledge to operate this system or any other technology of Health IT that will be implemented in healthcare organization. To achieve this, proper training of employees in this field is required by IT professionals. How IT is used in Healthcare? The use of IT in Healthcare can be assessed on internally and externally. Internally IT is used by employees of healthcare organization to access and store information of patients, their problems and treatment (Krueger, 2017). Besides this, due and received payment of patients are also stored in health information system and further used at time of discharge of patients. The information about employees of healthcare organization is also stored in health information system that is used periodically by management, stakeholders and other members of hospital (Aims Education, 2017). On other side, externally Health IT is used by customers and suppliers in a way that customers can online access health information system to check their patients records, status of treatment and billing information by using authorized access (Chcf.org, 2017). Suppliers can also login into health information system to know about new requirements of healthcare organization regarding material such as medicines, vaccinations etc. Healthcare organizations can send their requirements online to suppliers by using emails or by messages on information systems. In this way, IT can be used both internal and external ways in healthcare. Advantages or Benefits of IT to Healthcare In above segments of report, we have already discussed uses, requirements and importance of IT to healthcare. From that discussion it is cleared that implementation of Health IT will be beneficial for healthcare organizations. Following are some essential benefits or advantages of IT in healthcare (Seriousgamesforhealth.com, 2017): Information Technology has introduced wearable devices in healthcare sector and it has improved efficiency of healthcare sector. The quality in patients assistance has also increased due to IT. Besides this, the safety of patients has increased by directly accessing medical case story and by checking treatments online (Layden, 2017). IT services are inexpensive, so these are cutting down the medical spending of hospitals where these used and provided to patients. The implementation of ICT services in healthcare introduces new ways to carry out medicine and to develop health care. The usage of electronic health records provides quick and accurate information to users of health information systems and this information can be used for decision making at level of management. For increasing revenue of healthcare organizations and to reduce cost of sharing information manually at remote locations, ICT is also considered effective. Risks of Implementing IT in Healthcare In every field where Information Technology and its applications are used, there common risk factors of IT are security, privacy, confidentiality and availability of data. The main security and privacy risks of data by using IT systems are hacking, phishing, DDoS and virus attacks that re implemented by hackers to access data from systems database in unauthorized way. The confidentiality risk of IT is that sensitivity of data is maintained by IT applications or not. Besides this, risk of availability of data is related to authorize access of data to users. It means, some important people in healthcare organizations should have right to access information from information system when it is needed. If access will be opened for all then security and confidentiality will be lost (Unc.edu, 2017). Maintenance and Monitoring of IT in Healthcare The effective ways to maintain and monitor IT in healthcare is to apply security tools on IT applications that are used in hospital or healthcare organization. The main security tools that can be used are installation of anti-virus into system to get prevention from virus, use of firewall, use of cryptography techniques such as encryption and scanning software solutions to scan whole system at regular basis (CCHIT, 2017). Conclusion From above discussion, importance of IT is cleared in Healthcare Industry. With implementation of IT, various time consuming activities such as storage, accessing and sharing of huge amount of data can be easily and within less time and less cost. The use of Information Technology in business is an effective way to perform every task in appropriate way. References Asian Healthcare Management System. (2017). Role of Information Technology in Medical Science. [online] Available at: https://www.asianhhm.com/articles/role-information-technology-medical-sciences [Accessed 3 May 2017]. SearchHealthIT. (2017). What is Health IT (health information technology)? - Definition from WhatIs.com. [online] Available at: https://searchhealthit.techtarget.com/definition/Health-IT-information-technology [Accessed 3 May 2017]. Ahrq.gov. (2017). Health Information Technology Integration | Agency for Healthcare Research Quality. [online] Available at: https://www.ahrq.gov/professionals/prevention-chronic-care/improve/health-it/index.html [Accessed 3 May 2017]. Ortiz, E. and Clancy, C. (2017). Use of Information Technology to Improve the Quality of Health Care in the United States. B, G. (2017). Information technology and today's health care management. - PubMed - NCBI. [online] Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov. Available at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10122865 [Accessed 3 May 2017]. Healthit.ahrq.gov. (2017). Health IT Costs and Benefits Database | AHRQ National Resource Center; Health Information Technology: Best Practices Transforming Quality, Safety, and Efficiency. [online] Available at: https://healthit.ahrq.gov/health-it-tools-and-resources/health-it-costs-and-benefits-database [Accessed 3 May 2017]. AIMS EDUCATION. (2017). What Are the Real Benefits of Technology in Healthcare?. [online] Available at: https://www.aimseducation.edu/blog/benefits-of-technology-in-healthcare/ [Accessed 3 May 2017]. Seriousgamesforhealth.com. (2017). The Main Benefits of Using ICT in the Health Care Field | Serious Games For Health. [online] Available at: https://www.seriousgamesforhealth.com/en/the-main-benefits-of-using-ict-in-the-health-care-field/#undefined [Accessed 3 May 2017]. CCHIT. (2017). Benefits of Healthcare Information Technology | CCHIT. [online] Available at: https://www.cchit.org/benefits-of-healthcare-information-technology/ [Accessed 3 May 2017]. Krueger, A. (2017). 6 Ways Technology Is Improving Healthcare. [online] Business Insider. Available at: https://www.businessinsider.com/6-ways-technology-is-improving-healthcare-2010-12?IR=T [Accessed 3 May 2017]. Buntin, M., Burke, M., Hoaglin, M. and Blumenthal, D. (2017). The Benefits Of Health Information Technology: A Review Of The Recent Literature Shows Predominantly Positive Results. Chcf.org. (2017). Measuring the Costs and Benefits of Health Care Information Technology: Six Case Studies. [online] Available at: https://www.chcf.org/publications/2004/09/measuring-the-costs-and-benefits-of-health-care-information-technology-six-case-studies [Accessed 3 May 2017]. Layden, L., Layden, L. and profile, V. (2017). Health Information Technology Advantages and Disadvantages. [online] Lindseylayden.blogspot.in. Available at: https://lindseylayden.blogspot.in/2011/03/health-information-technology.html [Accessed 3 May 2017]. Unc.edu. (2017). Benefits of Computer Use in Health Care Systems. [online] Available at: https://www.unc.edu/~kmonsalv/comp101/project1/ [Accessed 3 May 2017].