2. Module 1:
Chapter 3
OVERVIEW OF HEALTH
INFORMATICS
HEALTHCARE DATA,
INFORMATION AND
KNOWLEDGE
SIGNIFICANCE OF
INFORMATION SYSTEMS
3. Module
Content
Overview of Health Informatics: survey of
fundamentals of health information technology,
Identify the forces behind health informatics,
educational and career opportunities in health
informatics.
Healthcare Data, Information and Knowledge: How
to use healthcare data to fuel modern health care
organizations.
Significance of Information Systems: how
information technology enables patient care, how
information technology is used by healthcare
providers.
5. How
information
technology
enables
patient care
In the healthcare sector, information technology has played a
crucial role in providing a central database to manage patient data
in the form of Electronic Health Records (EHR) and modern
software that helps to simplify medical billing and coding and
streamline the financial revenue cycle.The reasons for information
technology integration in medical practice are:
Assists medical practice to access accurate and actionable data that
can easily be customized to suit particular healthcare needs.
Allow healthcare professionals to access important patient details
from medical history, diagnosis, and previous treatment and then
make an informed decision
The fast decision making reduces the health-related risks that can
impact patients’ health
Improve the appointment scheduling, insurance verification,
coding, and billing procedure
6. The
Advantages of
Healthcare
Information
Technology
Traditionally a medical coder has to keep in mind hundreds of different codes, which can
be complicated with complex drug names and the addition of different codes.The Covid-
19 outbreak also brought different codes based on diagnosis, testing, and treatment.
Installing modern medical billing software means that all the medical codes are updated
regularly, and there will be less risk of medical claim rejection due to the selection of
incorrect codes.
The advantages of information technology in healthcare
are
Detailed and accurate information
Customized care and treatment plans for the patients
Improved and fast communication between healthcare
practitioners and patients
Clear and safe medical record of patients
Easy access to patient record through a central database
Reduced costs as correct codes are selected and accurate
medical claims are submitted
7. How
information
technology is
used by
healthcare
providers.
We live in the real world that contains physical objects (e.g.,
aspirin tablet), people (e.g., John Smith), things that can be done
(e.g., John Smith took an aspirin tablet) and other concepts. In
order to do useful computation, one has to segregate some part of
the physical world and create a conceptual model.
The conceptual model contains only the parts of the physical
world that are relevant to the computation. Importantly,
everything that is not in the conceptual model is excluded from
the computation and assumed to be irrelevant.
The conceptual model is used to design and implement a
computational model.The real world contains a person, John
Smith.There are many other things in the real world including
other people, physical objects, etc.There are many things that we
can say about this person, they have a name, height, weight,
parents, thoughts, feelings, etc.The conceptual model defines
what is relevant; everything that is not in the conceptual model is
therefore assumed to be not relevant.
8. How
information
technology is
used by
healthcare
providers?
From massive diagnostic imaging scanners to tiny wearable sensors,
technology is an integral part of modern healthcare. Here are just a
few examples of the areas in which healthcare technology innovations
are supporting the next wave of advances in healthcare:
Disease diagnosis and treatment
UsingAI to process data, like medical images, and develop disease
models can potentially help clinicians make diagnoses with more
precision.
Medical imaging
Computers and AI models are particularly valuable in medical
imaging because they can help turn pictures into numbers and
detect trends.
Healthcare operations
Many hospitals and healthcare systems are starting to build on
improvements they've seen with electronic medical records and find
other ways to systematically improve their operations.
Clinical research
Life sciences organizations are using technology to transform how
clinical trials are being performed. Smart devices, telehealth visits
and sensors are being used to support decentralized trials that make
data collection more efficient and convenient for the people who
participate.