Global Trends, Legislation and Regulations influencing the implementation of HIMS

In the healthcare industry, an organization that intends on being sustainable has to adapt to change. Adopting new trends necessitates changes in the designing and planning of 21st-century healthcare information systems.

The Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act (HIPAA) requires healthcare facilities to ensure that patient information is kept confidential. Initially, many healthcare facilities utilized paper-based systems for storing patient information. Back then, it was easy to secure patient files and folders as they were kept in sealed cabinets, and only authorized personnel were allowed to access the keys. Now, patient records are available on the hospital networks that can be accessed by a majority of employees. For this reason, healthcare organizations face difficulties in securing patient records to conform to HIPAA regulations as the staff handles many aspects of the patient’s records.

This way, organizations have to ensure that only authorized personnel can access hospital records. One of the best practices that are implemented by healthcare regulations in order to comply with HIPAA rules is only allowing healthcare personnel to access areas of the patient portal that involves their roles. For instance, scheduling staff should only be allowed to access the patient’s scheduling times in their portal so that they do not get access to medical information as it would infringe upon HIPAA regulations.

The Health Information for Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act that was created to stimulate the adoption of EHR. HITECH requires organizations to notify patients in the event that their information has been accessed by unauthorized parties. The Act provides penalties to healthcare organizations that have failed to implement EHRs. Healthcare organizations are required to comply with the Privacy Act of 1974 that requires citizens to be aware of the information that is collected about them, what the information will be used for, and to get access to the information.

Global trends in the implementation of HMIS over the next five years

Before the implementation of HMIS, effective planning should be undertaken to ensure that the project does not have a negative impact on the organization’s culture. Increased investments in ICT will be the norm for healthcare organizations. The investment will go towards the attainment of infrastructure that will enable the systems to communicate across networks. Another major trend that will be witnessed is big data analysis to give more insight into the relationships within the data. Data analytics will enable healthcare organizations to gain more insight into patient behavior, leading to the creation of solutions that will fulfill healthcare demands. IoT-based devices will be implemented increasingly so as to augment the patient care process, leading to increased customer engagement that will increase patient satisfaction as a healthcare organization will be more knowledgeable on patient needs.

Conclusion

The implementation of HMIS is beneficial to healthcare organizations as they benefit from increased efficiency and higher customer satisfaction. The three trends that have been adopted by healthcare players include EHR implementation, telehealth services, and conglomeration. Although the trends are impacted by various challenges, the organizations can still implement them after initiating mitigating strategies that lower threats emanating from the trends. Here You can Health Care.