A good hospital information system (HIS) can comprehensively manage administrative, financial, and clinical aspects of a hospital to improve patient care quality and reduce costs. Key functions of a HIS include registration, billing, laboratory, pharmacy management, and generating discharge summaries. It is important for a HIS to have user-friendly interfaces, modular design, integration with other systems like PACS, and customizable billing modules that integrate with insurance plans to accurately calculate patient costs. Inventory management is another important feature that helps hospitals efficiently purchase, receive, store, and track medical supplies and medications.

1. IT in Hospitals & HISAn overview

2. Changing role of IT professionals in HospitalsIT use to be a secondary dept. since need of It was not realized.The main work use to be troubleshooting and maintenance of network infrastructure.

3. Present Scenario Today IT professionals in health care or hospitals deals with analyzing the requirements of the hospitals to make their work more efficient & less time consuming and developing applications they need and implementation and maintenance of the same. IT in Hospitals has been used in following Applications:HISEMRE-prescriptionsE-healthTelecommunicationCDSS

4. Hospital Information SystemHospital Information System (HIS) can be defined as a comprehensive, integrated information system designed to manage the administrative, financial and clinical aspects of a hospital that enable better quality of patient care, reduce the time spent for clerical works, reduce the overall cost, increase the productivity and more important providing the more reliable , correct and regular data.The computer hardware and software that processes a hospital's data, including financial, Pt-related, and 'strategic' management data, Pt accounts, Pt tracking, payroll, reimbursements, taxes, statistics

5. HistoryHospital information systems were first developed in the 1960s and have been an essential part in hospital information management and administration. The systems were used to manage patient finance and hospital inventory.

6. HIS is generally Used for-Operational managementFunctional ManagementStrategic Management

7. Operational ManagementCreating Demographic details of the patient

8. Creating medical history

9. Creating Standardized process & documentsFunctional MANAGEMENTRegistrationAdmissionOPD/IPDPharmacyLaboratoryBillingBlood BankMedical Equipment ManagementPersonnel ManagementMIS reporting & morePharmacyNursing HR

10. Strategic ManagementMIS

11. Budget & Target Setting

12. Educational & Social AwarenessObjectivesCapture & disseminate InformationAnalyze & validate InformationPrioritize & Escalate IssuesProvide Management overview

13. Actors/StakeholdersDoctorsAdministratorsPatientsPartners & providersManagement & regulators

14. General Characteristics which One should look for in a good HISModular

15. User Friendly

16. Integrated Functionality

17. Easy to customize

18. High level of security

19. Low Hardware Requirements

20. Low Cost of ownership

21. High ROI

22. Shortcut keyboard FunctionSystem CharacteristicsSupport For maximum hospital procedure

23. GUI

24. Integration with the Third party accounting software

25. Auto Test result Generation

26. DICOM picture viewing

27. Integration with PACs

28. User defined Statistical Reports

29. Integration with TPAsOrganisation or companies in manufacture of HIS NapierShrishtiWipro G(lot of small installations0Charak(Birlas)Medtrack(Fortis,Pushpanjali)Isoft(Medicity & Artemis)AccurateAkhil (Paras & BL Kapoor)

30. Additional applications required which are generally integrated with HISIt is required to facilitate the exchange of Information or patient records as none of them is stand alone application.PACSBack Office Applications(Asset & Inventory Mgmt,Billing,financial & administrative modules)EMR

31. Key Points you should look for to differentiate other HIS from the best one for your Hospital a good HISBilling ModuleInventory ModuleConsignment ModuleDischarge Summery

32. Billing ModuleAll the operational processes applied to the patient and all the medicine and material used are listed in the billing screen.Last controls are performed in this module and if the processes are entered completely, the bill is saved. (Bookkeeping, diagnosis, provision, doctor etc) Records about the patients are examined in the outpatient and inpatient billing departments depending on the health service the patient received, accruement procedures are completed and the bill is created.

33. Excellent billing module which can automate the steps of billing because after all its for revenue that a hospital is spending on ITThe most important aspect in a billing module is Payer & plan It should definitely have two categories to differentiate the patients at the time of entry in the HIS that will not cause problem at the back end- Cash patient & Credit Patient.Should have three option in billing i.eservices with base tarrifs. For corporates,credit & cash. patients

34. It should have proper system to show the applicable tariffs correlated with tie-ups and insurance that automatically system can calculate the discounted rate on the base tariffs which are beforehand set for different categories of patients.

35. A user friendly option for cancellation & refund.Capping/CoInsurance-The insurance company will likely not pay more than the coverage limits of the policy. It's the limit that is provided by the TPAs and insurance companies for the patients that they will bear only a fixed amount of patient’s cost and rest will be in the form of Copayment.

36. emergency cases –Bed charges

37. popup –services were charged or not, facility availed or not.

38. How exclusions are treated in the billing system that is very important

39. Integration with the ward management module for IPD pharmacy billing

40. Interim Billing-it calculates and reflects per day billing of servicesDischarge summeryAfter the discharge of patient discharge summary can be automatically generated with just few press of keys(i.e its preparation started fr0m the moment patient entered the IPD). Laboratory data can automatically be imported. Specialty wise standard format can be set.

41. ContentsI.Basic ElementsDate of admission. Date of discharge. Disposition location (eg, home, ecf, short-term rehab). Principal diagnosis for hospitalization. Secondary diagnoses addressed during hospitalization. Procedures performed during hospitalization. Consultants

42. II. HistoryA succinct summary of the key events leading to hospitalization. The past medical history. Pertinent elements of the social history. Pertinent elements of the family historyIII. Physical ExamFindings (positive or negative) pertinent to history elements.IV. DataPertinent (normal and abnormal) laboratory data. Pertinent results of diagnostic studies (e.G., Cxr, ekg).

43. V. Hospital CourseSummary statement pertaining to the principal diagnosis. Problem list that parallels the diagnoses listedSeparate paragraph dedicated to each problem listed. Brief discussion of the evaluation of each problem. Brief discussion of the treatment of each problem. Brief discussion of the outcome of each problem. Specific follow-up plan for each relevant problem

44. VI. Discharge PlanFuture physician’s visits scheduled (or to be scheduled). Specific studies that require follow-upa list of discharge medications (names, doses, & frequency). mention of how information was/will be communicated to PMD. “cc” to treating physicians.VII. Additional comments or suggestions

45. Inventory Management systemHospitals need to actively manage what is bought, when it is bought, how much, as well as for what price, including discounts and rebatesInventory Management Module offers a time saving inventory solution that is precise and scalable, allowing you to monitor inventory usage more accurately and capture charges more efficiently by eliminating redundant data entry. Designed to support multiple facilities and multiple labs, the Inventory Management Module can be tailored to a hospital’s workflow.

46. Workflow of Inventory(Basic workflow)Purchase departmentPurchase DepartmentMain storeCentral Medical storeCentral Pharmacy StoreSub holding storeConsumedChargeableNon chargeable

47. An Inventory Module Should facilitate the sequence wise Processes as followsPurchase Dept(Rate contract)Purchase Requisition from different deptApproved & authorizedOrder is placedGoods deliveredGoods CheckingGoods Receiving NoteStockedCentral storeItems IssuedDepartmental sub Store

48. FeaturesFIFO format of System issueStock Expiry RecordsBatch wise distribution List(Same expiry Date)Medicines should not be enlisted with the generic name but the Brand name as cost differs for both.Integration of Consignment Module .Item Mapping 1) item number (most unique)2) inventory number (unique)3) catalog (unique to a group of inventory items)4) description (free flow text description of item)

49. ORDER MANAGEMENT(order entry, order review and/or validation, interdepartmental communication, order inquiry, and reporting requirements)Alerts system until confirmation of the receipt/delivery handles new drug ordersManages Material Resource Planning (MRP) ManagementRegulates Material forecast, Reservation management Substitute Goods Management system

50. ConclusionWe can conclude that a good HIS should be able toIncrease-No. of transactions

51. Inventory management

52. Sales

53. Productivity

54. Customer satisfaction

55. Market Share & penetrationDecrease-Administrative cost

56. Variable cost

57. Personnel expenses

58. Inventory losses