ABC Health Care: Providing Essential Healthcare in Bastrop, Louisiana

Reflecting on the case study organization that I previously choose, many health care needs were highlighted. Notably, the healthcare facility is located in Bastrop, Louisiana, US. The region is one of the most densely populated in the United States. As mentioned, the area has few health care facilities, despite being home to many people. For this reason, it was established "ABC Health Care" organization attends to many patients throughout the year. Secondly, it was also noted that many of the patients who visit the facility are from rural places, and thus, they are required to travel for long distances. As such, it was proposed that there a need for the hospital develop a health care information system that would help in offering telemedicine services remotely, especially those that have to travel for long distances to the facility. Three areas were identified that telemedicine services would be offered; radiology, intensive care unit, and the mental health care sector. To that effect, the identified health care need in this case study organization was to develop a health care information system that would help to remotely diagnose and treat patients in rural areas, through the use of telecommunication technology.

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Risk Analysis

To ensure that the organizational needs were met in accordance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) of 1996 and according to the guidelines stipulated by the Office for Civil Rights (OCR), a detailed risk analysis was conducted (Thompson, 2020). The process is described here below.

The first step involved the identification of the scope risk analysis. It covered three key issues; availability, integrity, and confidentiality of all electronically protected health information that the system would create, transmit, receive, and manage were identified (Miller et al., 2019). The second phase involved the gathering of all relevant data that pertained to the new health care information system. Notably, this was achieved through the use of interviews and reviewing existing similar projects. It was critical in helping identify threats and risks that may pose the system. During the third phase, all potential risks and threats to the system were identified and documented (McCrossin, 2013). Major security issues were identified during this phase, including physical safeguards, user access to the health information system, and workforce training. Then, measures were put to avoid any risks or threats that may arise from these security concerns, including setting user login accounts, passwords, data encryption, backing up of data, installing alarm systems, ensuring that there is a security in-charge 24/7 (Miller et al., 2019). The likelihood of such threats and their impacts was analyzed (McCrossin, 2013). The process of risk analysis was then documented as it is integral in risk management. The organization also continues to conduct periodic reviews and updates on risk assessment.

Essential Components of Health Care Decision Model.

A health care decision-making model describes the step-by-step process that is espoused to make the best care decision from the many alternatives available (Elwyn et al., 2012). There are many such models, including the DECIDE model and the shared decision-making model (Flynn, Smith & Vanness, 2006). Notably, all these models have some elements that are common and essential. Firstly, there is an element of defining the problem. Relating to the proposed system, this part involved gathering data from the patients and physicians. Indeed, this is the first stage in the SDLC. Then, there is the process of establishing the criteria for solving the problem. In the SDLC, this was achieved by defining the requirement of the system. Also, there is the concept of identifying the best alternative- in this case, it was to develop a health care information system that would solve the needs present in the hospital.

The Impact Technology Has On Cultural Factors in Health Care Provisions and Decision-Making

The majority of the target people have not been using telemedicine services. As such, there is a need for the ABC Heath Care organization to encourage people to adopt the new technology since it will help them to access care services remotely and promptly. Indeed, this will be cost-effective. However, there is the leverage that most of the people in this region are computer literate, and thus, it will be easier for them to use the system.

Roles and Responsibilities of Key Players

Physicians

They have the core task of ensuring that there are available to offer telemedicine services 24/7. Also, they are charged with the duty of identifying areas within the system that do not conform to the initial requirement specification.

Patients

They provide feedback on the quality of the services offered, which helps in identifying any area that needs improvement. They can also provide suggestions on how the system can be improved.

IT personnel

They have the responsibility of maintaining the new system. Notably, this can either be preventive, adaptive, corrective, or perfective maintenance.

Enterprise-Wide Data's Role in Health Information Governance

Enterprise-wide data refers to data that is shared by users of an organization across the departments and geographic regions (Lin & Vassar, 2014). In this case, the key users of the system are physicians and patients. Regarding the governance of health care information, enterprise-wide data plays the role of ensuring that all gathered data (patient's data) is secured and kept confidential. At the same time, the value should be realized from such data, primarily through the payment of the care services offered remotely.

References

Elwyn, G., Frosch, D., Thomson, R., Joseph-Williams, N., Lloyd, A., Kinnersley, P., ... & Edwards, A. (2012). Shared decision making: a model for clinical practice. Journal of general internal medicine, 27(10), 1361-1367.

Flynn, K. E., Smith, M. A., & Vanness, D. (2006). A typology of preferences for participation in healthcare decision making. Social science & medicine, 63(5), 1158-1169.

Lin, B., & Vassar, J. A. (2014). Mobile healthcare computing devices for enterprise-wide patient data delivery. International Journal of Mobile Communications, 2(4), 343-353.

McCrossin, R. (2013). Managing risk in telemedicine. Journal of telemedicine and telecare, 9(2_suppl), 36-39.

Miller, S., Glisson, W. B., Campbell, M., & Sittig, S. (2019). Risk Analysis of Residual Protected Health Information of Android Telehealth Apps.

Thompson, E. C. (2020). HIPAA Security Rule and Cybersecurity Operations. In Designing a HIPAA-Compliant Security Operations Center (pp. 23-36). Apress, Berkeley, CA.