Problems and Solutions Concerning Meeting Advancing Health Information Requirements

Health Information Technology Challenges
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Health Information Technology Challenges
Currently, hospital setups exhibit new Health Information Technology (HIT) innovations that help in monitoring healthcare and fitness improvement. Besides, this HIT improves health outcomes and ensures efficiency in workflow among others. Such technological innovations include electronic health records, health apps, wearable devices and next-generation medical devices. Irrespective of such improvements in the healthcare systems, doctors, healthcare practitioners, EHR vendors and other stakeholders continue to experience challenges associated with the HIT which still hinders effective implementation of the numerous technological innovations (National Research Council, 2000). Lack of coordination in the healthcare system, interoperability as well as inconsistent regulatory frameworks among others form significant challenges in meeting the requirements of Advancing Health Information in the healthcare sector. The present essay henceforth presents the different problems and their possible solutions concerning meeting the Advancing Health Information requirements.
A significant challenge that both the healthcare practitioners and the EHR vendors face in meeting the Advancing Health Information requirements is barriers. External barriers entail all the aspects of the environment that the health care enterprise operate and define its ability to capitalize on such technological advances. Such restrictions are policies, market forces, finance, technology and standards (National Research Council, 2000). Market forces, for instance, involve increase in the aging population, high health care costs and shifts in consumer preferences that result in adverse impacts to the healthcare enterprises. Healthcare practitioners anticipate that aging population creates a demand for Advance Health Information aspects to ensure the improvement of healthcare processes. Such trends would benefit the local hospitals, but concern arises on the increasing costs that result to more care on a per capita basis. Internet-Mediated healthcare usually increases with an increase in aging population. However, it raises the challenge of interface considerations due to minimal travels resulting in change in the marketplace. Consequently, healthcare enterprise would transform to suit the market (National Research Council, 2000). On the same note, policies, and standards especially the regulations and professional standards as well as the technical standards are usually outside the control of healthcare industry. These barriers are impediments to the full exploitation of HIT especially internet services which reduce the incentives to undertake an important initiative to benefit the healthcare system and patients' health (National Research Council, 2000). A case of policies on professional licensure usually impedes the attempt to provide healthcare services via the HIT. Other aspects of policies include regulations on data security and privacy of patients which result in disincentives for transmission of crucial information across the networks such as the internet. Other challenges on policies include third-party payer policies and Health Insurance Company on payment for medical services (National Research Council, 2000).
The second challenge is financial aspects of the healthcare system. Funding the health care system to meet the HIT requirements is usually a challenge. In most cases, care providers get paid for the treatment of diseases rather than prevention of the conditions. Such mode of payments reduces the interest in ...