Question

Why might the traditional model of Health Information Management practice roles not be appropriate for today's healthcare environment?

Answer 1

Health information management (HIM) is information management applied to health and health care. It is the practice of acquiring, analyzing and protecting digital and traditional medical information vital to providing quality patient care.

  

Traditional Model

  

Modern Development in Health Information Mangements

It icludes :-

* Electronic health records

* Educational programs

*Information based

*Data modeling

*Data administration

*Data auditing

*Electronic searches

*Shared knowledge sources

*Statistical and modeling technique

* Logical data views

*Data flow and reengineering

*Application development Application support

*Security, audit, and control programs Risk assessment and analysis

  

The traditional model of Health Information Management practice roles not be appropriate for today's healthcare environment because :-

         The traditional model of practice is department focused. Tasks are devoted primarily to processing and tracking records rather than processing and tracking information. Studies have consistently shown that 25 to 40 percent of a hospital’s operating costs are devoted to information handling. Obviously, information management has become a top priority for healthcare institutions . In today’s information age, information crosses departmental boundaries and is broadly disseminated throughout the organization. In fact, information grows out of data manipulation from a variety of shared data sources. An information-oriented management model includes tasks associated with a broad range of information services.

      The traditional model of practice is department based and the health information manager’s activities are usually performed in the medical record department. In the new model, tasks are information based and many of the health information manager’s activities are performed outside the HIM department.

Indeed, many health information managers work entirely in other areas of the facility and in other set tings. They work in a variety of functional areas, such as quality improvement, decision support, information systems, utilization management, data privacy, data security, and so on. Instead of working primarily in hospitals, many work in ambulatory care facilities and other nontraditional settings.

       A second important difference is that the traditional model of practice is based on creating, tracking, and storing physical records. In today’s information-intense environment, the physical (paper-based) health record is being replaced by the computer-based health record. The information in computer-based records is created, compiled, and stored in many different areas within the enterprise and is brought together electronically only when needed. The tasks performed by a health information manager focus on such activities as maintaining data dictionaries, developing data models, performing data administration tasks, and ensuring data quality through a variety of auditing tasks.

Another difference between the two models of practice centers on tasks associated with data analysis and interpretation. In the traditional model of practice, the tasks involve the aggregation and display of data. However, today’s information world is much more complicated than it was two or three decades ago and contains more enabling technologies to search and analyze data. Thus, the health information manager who works in decision support or quality improvement today must use sophisticated computer-based tools to analyze data from a variety of data sources. With more emphasis being placed on the development of an electronic record, health information managers will find that the tasks they perform are less concerned with paper forms design. Instead, the tasks will focus more on developing good user interfaces for electronic medical records.

Finally, health information practitioners have always been concerned with the privacy and confidentiality of data. The tasks in the traditional model of practice were confined principally to issues involving release of information. However, in a more technologically sophisticated world, these tasks are shifting to include enterprise-wide responsibilities for computer data security programs as well as organization-wide privacy programs.