Health Information Exchange (HIE)

Answer

Health Information Exchange (HIE)

       It is clear most of the fields whether professional, manual or scientific has technology included in their activities. In the medical field, technology is applied in a number of activities. One of the major activities in which technology has been adopted is the sharing of information and data. However, what is of interest to people in HIE is the data of the patient. This includes all the health data and information pertaining to a certain patient. The data might be previous health records of the patient, diagnosis reports, prescriptions and much more. Hence, HIE is the process through which professionals in the medical field can share information and data of a patient through electronic media. By use of electronic media, the data can be shared within the boundaries of a certain health facility or outside these boundaries since the combination of the electronic and internet makes this possible. Just to give an example, a patient might be suffering from cancer but attends regular checkups in a nearby hospital, however, when it comes to complex processes such as chemotherapy the patient seeks these services from a hospital in another state. Rather than overburdening the patient with papers and information, the hospital from which the patient goes for regular checkups shares the patient’s data electronically with the hospital in which the cancer patient attends chemotherapy.information of the patient regardless of the location of the patient and that of the health practitioners. It has made it possible for doctors to treat patients who are located miles away since the doctor reviews the patient’s medical information and gives back the prescriptions via electronic media too.

Medical care is tailored to suit patient’s needs

        By sharing the patient’s medical data, health professionals are able to tailor their services in such a way that fully meet the requirements of the patient. Take an example of patients who are regular visitors to hospitals complaining of the same or related symptoms. By sharing the specific patient’s information medical practitioners can review the data on the symptoms reported over time and accurately diagnose the patient with a certain condition and offer the necessary treatment.

Patient’s medical data is safe

        In most cases, patients do not keep their medical records in a safe manner. Most patients tend to store this information in their brains. However, not all the information is captured in the brain since over time they forget some of the details. When this happens, it means their medical history has been lost. When the data and information is being shared electronically, it is stored in backup systems so that when future needs of the data arise, it can be easily retrieved.

Question 3

HIE Governance

     The National Rural and Health Resource Centre is the body tasked with the governance of HIE. The body makes decisions on what grounds the patient’s medical data should be shared with or without the knowledge of the patient. The body also sets the security boundaries to ensure the data doesn’t land into wrong hands. Wrong hands mean all the parties not authorized to have access to the information. The body also holds seminars and workshops to teach health practitioners on how effectively to share the data.

Question 4

Nationwide Strategy on HIE

      Through the use of HIE, the country hopes to achieve several milestones in the health field. The first milestone is improving the quality of the medical services being offered to patients in the country. Secondly, in the past, patients used to spend long periods of time at medical facilities while waiting for their medical information to be retrieved, however through HIE, this information is retrieved very fast making the treatment process very efficient. Finally, the safety of the patient and of the medical practitioners is ensured. HIE has been integrated with other services such as payment systems and prescription invoicing to improve the health care services offered.

Question 5

Standards and Interoperability

      When it comes to standards, only one major factor has to be considered which the security of the data is. Is it possible that the professionals who have access to the information will share it with other sources which are illegal? In addressing this, it is assumed that HIE follows the confidentiality principles between the doctor and the patient. When it comes to interoperability, one single platform has been created where all the patients’ information is stored. This platform is available to access for all medical practitioners in the country who are authorized to have access to the information.

Question 6

Decision Support Tool

       The decision support tool in HIE include all the main stakeholders. These are the general public who form the clientele base (patients). Their needs have to be adequately met. The other stakeholders include the doctors as the service providers and the government as the regulator. The concerns of these stakeholders are considered before any major HIE decisions are made, thus being a supportive tool.