Running head: EFFECTIVENESS OF HEALTH CARE IT SYSTEMS 1 EFFECTIVENESS OF HEALTH CARE IT SYSTEMS 9 Effectiveness of Health Care IT Systems Annie M Beal Strayer University 08/24/2018 Effectiveness of Health Care IT Systems Information technology has transformed almost all the sectors, and health care is a sector where technology has worked to improve efficiency and productivity. The quality of services offered to patients and the ease of storing and retrieving patient information. Information technology has further enhanced the security of information with data encryption. Despite these huge benefits of IT in technology, officers within the health system have a huge role in ensuring that healthcare IT system is efficient. Question 1 The chief information officer and the chief technology officer are two roles that are related but important within the healthcare setting. The CIO is responsible for developing and advancing technology use in healthcare facilities. The CIO has to involve all health officers with the use of IT systems to improve the quality of services. CIOs work by identifying critical areas and creating roles for healthcare personnel. The CTO on the other monitors the development of technologies in the market and identify those that can be useful in health care (Sultz & Young, 2013). The person in charge is more knowledgeable on technology issues as they evaluate and determine technologies that can better healthcare provision. Together with the CIO, the CTO can help in the evaluation of technologies to determine if they will offer value for investment before advising the management on the right path to pursue. The CIO and CTO have expert knowledge of IT infrastructure and are therefore better placed in helping staff in enhancing patient satisfaction. The two identify training needs for all the staff that ensure that the staff understands how to use IT systems. They can additionally provide real-time help to clients using the web portal of the hospital (Kellermann & Jones, 2013). They can additionally come up with real-time phone calls whenever staff and patients need help. The main role in which the two is to improve communication with the staff so that IT infrastructure can be fully utilized. Question 2 Several technologies have come up with the goal of lowering costs and improving the quality of health services. The main technology mHealth has transformed health care by allowing people to access health services through remote devices. The power of this technology is on access to health information through smartphones and tablets. Physicians can be able to access patient’s health information and offer expert advice to the patient (Boudreaux et al., 2014). The interconnection provided by mHealth promotes the participation of patients towards their treatment. The interconnection to different databases has allowed patients to monitor things like blood pressure remotely without visiting the hospitals. It is through this t ...

1. Running head: EFFECTIVENESS OF HEALTH CARE IT
SYSTEMS 1
EFFECTIVENESS OF HEALTH CARE IT SYSTEMS 9
Effectiveness of Health Care IT Systems
Annie M Beal
Strayer University
08/24/2018
Effectiveness of Health Care IT Systems
Information technology has transformed almost all the sectors,
and health care is a sector where technology has worked to
improve efficiency and productivity. The quality of services
offered to patients and the ease of storing and retrieving patient
information. Information technology has further enhanced the
security of information with data encryption. Despite these huge
benefits of IT in technology, officers within the health system
have a huge role in ensuring that healthcare IT system is
efficient.
Question 1
The chief information officer and the chief technology officer
are two roles that are related but important within the healthcare
setting. The CIO is responsible for developing and advancing
technology use in healthcare facilities. The CIO has to involve
all health officers with the use of IT systems to improve the
quality of services. CIOs work by identifying critical areas and
creating roles for healthcare personnel. The CTO on the other
monitors the development of technologies in the market and

2. identify those that can be useful in health care (Sultz & Young,
2013). The person in charge is more knowledgeable on
technology issues as they evaluate and determine technologies
that can better healthcare provision. Together with the CIO, the
CTO can help in the evaluation of technologies to determine if
they will offer value for investment before advising the
management on the right path to pursue.
The CIO and CTO have expert knowledge of IT infrastructure
and are therefore better placed in helping staff in enhancing
patient satisfaction. The two identify training needs for all the
staff that ensure that the staff understands how to use IT
systems. They can additionally provide real-time help to clients
using the web portal of the hospital (Kellermann & Jones,
2013). They can additionally come up with real-time phone calls
whenever staff and patients need help. The main role in which
the two is to improve communication with the staff so that IT
infrastructure can be fully utilized.
Question 2
Several technologies have come up with the goal of lowering
costs and improving the quality of health services. The main
technology mHealth has transformed health care by allowing
people to access health services through remote devices. The
power of this technology is on access to health information
through smartphones and tablets. Physicians can be able to
access patient’s health information and offer expert advice to
the patient (Boudreaux et al., 2014). The interconnection
provided by mHealth promotes the participation of patients
towards their treatment. The interconnection to different
databases has allowed patients to monitor things like blood
pressure remotely without visiting the hospitals. It is through
this technology that healthcare quality is continuously
improving while eliminating unnecessary costs. The last few
years has seen the number of people with smartphones surging
globally. The figures have seen mHealth technology advanced
to allow more people to access health information (Boudreaux
et al., 2014). The technology provides a guide in which people

3. can check the signs they possess with possible diseases.
Conducting health checkup is now possible with most hospitals
coming up with units that exclusively serve remote patients.
The technology has gathered information from almost every
citizen which can be shared upon approval whenever a person
visits a doctor (McGinnis et al., 2013). It has reduced health
cost and increased access to health care thus achieving the main
goal of equality in healthcare. The technology has proved to be
efficient during epidemics as it allows experts and government
agencies to provide information to citizens on how to avoid
diseases. They additionally provide symptoms which can help
patients to seek immediate medication to save their lives.
Wearable technology has impacted healthcare by improving
diagnosis and monitoring terminal diseases. Companies such as
Apple have come up with different wearable devices that
monitor health and send signals to hospitals. The same devices
can notify a person on important health issues that need to be
checked by a physician. Third parties are involved in
monitoring a person’s health and even though this has been
cited to contravene privacy rights, its ability to allow doctors to
detect abnormal health condition immediately is laudable
(Kvedar, Coye & Everett, 2014). Wearable devices have helped
terminally ill patients to improve the quality of their lives.
These devices monitor signs that could be fatal if not
immediately addressed (Fernández-Alemán et al., 2013).
Remote monitoring of these patients helps doctors to
recommend hospital visits before the situations worsen. Deaths
from such diseases have been minimized with cost also coming
down. It is now affordable for many patients to receive quality
health services without the need to visit hospitals. Quality and
costs are two things in which the technology has helped to
improve for both the patient and hospitals.
Question 3
The main challenge of using IT systems in healthcare is data
security and privacy. It is the role of the IT department to
safeguard patient data. According to HIPAA, any institution

4. that use IT systems to engage customers must provide adequate
security for data. A such, hospitals must put in place
administrative, physical and technical measures that guarantee
data security. The following methods can be used to safeguard
health information and guarantee data security and privacy.
· Access controls such as the use of passwords and PINS should
be put in place to limit users having access to information.
· Information stored in IT systems should be encrypted. Data
encryption prevents unauthorized persons from reading
information that is exchanged between different units.
· The regular audit trail should be conducted to provide
information about individuals who accessed information. The
method will ensure that there is a good use of IT systems since
misuse can be easily detected.
The presence of access controls with the health facility provides
an administrative and technical solution to data safety. Access
controls allow access to user profiles through password and PIN
use (Fernández-Alemán et al., 2013). The hospital should
establish a standard for access control such as a regular change
of passwords. An access control policy should be put in place to
ensure that employees do not share passwords with colleagues
(Sadeghi, Wachsmann & Waidner, 2015). Data encryption can
further enhance the security by preventing hackers from
obtaining the information from servers and IT systems. Data
backup should also be put in place to facilitate easy retrieval of
health information in the event of system failure.
Question 4
Health organizations use training as a method of teaching its
workers on how to use different technologies. Depending on the
organizational structure, appropriate teaching strategy must be
put in place to support the same. Three methods are available
that are best suited for health organizations.
Process based training
The method focuses on overall training on the use of health
systems. Employees are made to go through various processes
gaining experience and knowledge in different areas.

5. Role-based training
The method is functional where each employee receives training
based on their areas of specialization. Employees specialize
such that a pharmacist will receive training on how to use
technology to locate drugs and bill customers accordingly.
Mock clinic training
The method is integrated and continuous such that employees go
through mock sessions to a point where they attain competency.
Mock testing focuses on specific areas of need and change from
time to time.
Based on the three training methods, role-based training is
appropriate as it equips staff will develop relevant skills in
using IT systems. It additionally enhances competency which
can spill to improve the quality of services (Sultz & Young,
2013). The training allows employees to be attentive so that
they can effectively execute their duties. The training is further
tailored to meet specific needs thus creating synergy in the use
of technology.
Question 5
IT is crucial for efficiency, enhancing reliability and promoting
trust and confidentiality. As such, an organization must have a
plan to align IT together with other strategic initiatives. Best
practices must be in place to ensure that strategic planning
initiative is fully realized.
Providing a reliable and safe environment
A safe and reliable IT environment is required to facilitate easy
transmission and sharing of information. The environment IT
infrastructure should guarantee data security such that it
establishes confidence among the users. A safe environment
should put in place access controls such as securing the building
through CCTV surveillance, hiring security guards, use of
passwords and encrypting all the information used in the
organization (Loeppke et al., 2015). The technical, physical and
administrative controls is a practice that can help the
organization align its IT strategies.
Improving quality, availability, and delivery

6. Information is crucial in health organizations and as such, the
information should be readily available, quality and can easily
be transferred to end users. The health organization must ensure
that there is efficient infrastructure that can facilitate
communication with other healthcare partners. In most cases,
insurance companies would demand evidence of patients being
treated, and the hospital should readily disseminate such
information (Loeppke et al., 2015). By focusing on the three
issues, the organization will adopt best practices that will go a
long way in building trust and loyalty with other stakeholders.
The infrastructure should accommodate other technologies such
as the internet to help in sharing knowledge and information
that could improve and promote a healthy society.
Implementing approaches that promote innovation and
collaboration
Technology changes and as such, the organization must put in
place infrastructure that accommodates change. Innovation is
key in healthcare, and implementation of approaches that
promote innovation should be the guiding principle in aligning
IT strategies. Regarding collaboration, the IT system should
link up and share information with other systems within the
organization (Loeppke et al., 2015). The financial and billing
system is crucial for a health facility and an approach that could
collaborate both technologies should be fostered at the
organization. Through collaboration, activities within the
organization can be simplified by creating a unified
infrastructure that focuses on enhancing quality and reducing
costs.
In concluding, IT, systems are crucial for health facilitates in
regulating information storage, retrieval, and use. It would be
challenging for health practitioners to perform their tasks
without technology. The past decade has seen a revolution of
technology in healthcare, something that has promoted quality
access to health services at an affordable cost.
References

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