On the Efficacy of Health Information Technology

Abstract

This paper is a brief overview of health information technologies, citing a few studies, which show the significant advantages of health informatics, as well as the setbacks and issues apparent in the implementation and economy of these technologies. Wu et al. (2006) used health database indexes from academic and commercially developed health information systems to synthesize a review on the costs and efficiency of contemporary health information technologies. While Gagnon et al. (2013) assessed physicians of the Quebec Medical Association with a survey to determine the ease and efficacy of health information models such as the TAM (technology acceptance model), in order to determine ease and efficacy. This paper uses both resources to argue for the overall efficacy of health information technologies.

On the Efficacy of Health Information Technology

One of the more critical problems of caring for human health is that there are often breakdowns in communication between different providers, insurers, and other entities. These breakdowns, many times, stem from stagnation in the sharing and verification of information, to ensure that it is both accurate and up-to-date with the patient’s health history. In combination with other issues, this stagnation creates an ample amount of room for the continuing improvement of health information technologies. Health information technologies, which seek to provide technological and organizational methods, aimed at increasing healthcare efficiency and reducing costs, in lieu of population growth and the necessity of systematic approaches, are essential to an efficiently functioning healthcare system.

Two major innovations in the health care industry, which have allowed communication to become more seamless and therefore allowed more efficient use of practitioners’ time, have been electronic health records and computerized order entry. Both have transformed doctor’s offices and hospitals around the world, with the former eliminating storehouses worth of medical records, as well as the time wasted by attempting to access or organize them. A study done by Wu et al. for the Annals of Internal Medicine (2006), explains: “Given the fragmented nature of health care, the large volume of transactions in the system, the need to integrate new scientific evidence into practice, and other complex information management activities, the limitations of paper-based information management are intuitively apparent.” (Wu et al., 2006) Although they were not able to determine how well or whether any given health care institution would be able to implement health information technology systems, “[the] Four benchmark institutions [studied] have demonstrated the efficacy of health information technologies in improving quality and efficiency.” (Wu et al., 2006) Health information technologies are not without their issues, however, and there still exist a variety of barriers and difficulties in the path toward the more widespread implementation of these technologies.

Many countries around the globe are currently setting up electronic health records or have yet to implement electronic health records. The implementation of higher-efficiency systems, such as systems that include electronic health records, is often waylaid by a lack of resources or communication capital. However, the implementation of these technologies is also frequently waylaid by physicians’ hesitance or refusal to integrate electronic methods. In a study done by the Research Center of the CHU de Quebec (2013), “Several countries are in the process of implementing an Electronic Health Record (EHR), but limited physicians’ acceptance of this technology presents a serious threat to its successful implementation.” (Gagnon et al., 2013) The purpose of the study was to test four different models of electronic health records and to see which ones are most effective, or which ones most commonly were accepted and put to use by physicians. They found that “Physicians who perceive the EHR to be easy to use, coherent with their professional norms, supported by their peers and patients, and able to demonstrate tangible results are more likely to accept this technology.” (Gagnon et al., 2013) This is good to know, except that it may be a long road before electronic health record technologies are easier to use and more massively implemented.

In conclusion, health information technology is improving, not only the methodology of the secretaries and administrators in primary care offices, but also the amount and potential of patient information that physicians have to work with. This has resulted in more effective patient care and greater ease of diagnosis. Thus, with more widespread implementation of information health technologies, such as electronic health records, breakdowns in communication between providers, insurers, and other entities will happen less frequently. This fluency in medical communication and reduction of cost between entities will result in more effective and more affordable care.

References

Marie-Pierre Gagnon, El Kebir Ghandour, Pascaline Kengne Talla, David Simonyan, Gaston Godin, Michel Labrecque, Mathieu Ouimet, and Michel Rousseau. (2013) “Electronic Health Record Acceptance by Physicians: Testing an Integrated Theoretical Model” Journal of Biomedical Informatics, October 2013. Retrieved from:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1532046413001627

Shinyi Wu, Basit Chaudhry, Jerome Wang, Margaret Maglione, Walter Mojica, Elizabeth Roth, Sally C. Morton, and Paul G. Shekelle. (2006) "Systematic Review: Impact of Health Information Technology on Quality, Efficiency, and Costs of Medical Care" Annals of Internal Medicine 144.10 (2006): 742-752. Retrieved from: http://works.bepress.com/shinyi_wu/6