A recent survey by the Meta Group, a Stamford, Connecticut-based technology consulting firm assessed more than 4,800 hospitals and integrated delivery systems (this study was discussed in the American Medical News, March 22/29. 1999). The survey assigns hospitals to one of six levels on a technological scale: Level 1 - Basic billing applications; Level 2 - Ancillary department applications; Level 3 - Clinical orders applications; Level 4 - Point-of-care clinical charting; Level 5 – Enterprisewide data repository; and Level 6 - Clinical outcomes and disease management. Among the surveyed hospitals, only 14% came in at levels 5 or 6, and two-thirds are stuck at level 3 or below. Meta predicts that hospitals that fall short of levels 5 or 6 will lose market share by 2002, and that culture and management structure will be more important than an institute's size or the amount of its capital expenditures.
Employers, insurers, the government, and even consumers are increasingly demanding quality measurements and performance data. Hospitals and integrated delivery systems need to attain the necessary information technology in order to remain competitive. Ultimately, health care professionals will need to become familiar with the use of this new technology.
Listed below are several sites and documents pertaining to the area of information technology. Brief descriptions are included, and each is rated on a 4-star scale based on the usefulness of the site.
American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA)
The Health Information Network Connection (THINC)
This website is for an information technology organization whose mission statement is to "revolutionize the exchange of health care information, allowing providers and payers to access their patients’ clinical and insurance related information through their desktop computers." This site details the various services and applications you can purchase from THINC. It is very easy to navigate, and offers useful links to relevant organizations and health systems in the information technology arena. This site is great from a marketing standpoint for their organization, but offers very little content on information technology from an academic perspective. **
This useful internet site is a great resource for information technology products and services. It provides both a search engine and discrete search categories. Serving primarily as an advertising site, this site details the numerous information and clinical systems available and the contact information of the various companies that offer these systems. Very easy to navigate and useful information. ***
Health Data Management provides an abundant amount of online content resources concerning information technology. The site offers selected articles from current issues of Health Data Management and Window in Health Care, daily news bulletins and archives, and discussion groups. Very user-friendly site that provides a lot of useful information. ****
This site is a catalog of information about healthcare informatics both for those who regularly work in the area and for healthcare professionals new to the area. It provides links to medical informatics standards groups in the U.S., links to national and international coding systems, links to other informatics organizations, links to other standards organizations, links to standard data sets, links to internet and middleware standards, links to governmental organizations, and a specialty-specific introduction to healthcare informatics standards. Very user-friendly and a lot of useful information. ****
DOCUMENTS
Health Industry Has Small IS Pockets [02-26-98]
Article discusses how health care institutions are unlikely to increase
spending on information systems and other healthcare information technology.
Both the lack of funding and the "dearth of integration and interoperability
between different vendors’ biomedical and IT systems" were reported as
major factors hindering the acquisition of leading-edge information technology.
Sharing the Cost of Recovery [09-09-96]
A more outdated article that discusses annual spending on information technology: "While industries such as banking and financial services spend as much as 15% of their revenue on IT, the health care industry spends a meager 1% to 3%." Most predict, however, that because managed care and increased competition are driving healthcare automation, the percentage of revenue spent on IT will increase in the coming years.
Novel shows the dark side of computers and managed care [March, 1999]
The book review of Michael Freeny’s "Terminal Consent" appears in the
American Psychology Association’s online journal (The APA Monitor). The
novel’s basic premise is how easy it is more managed care companies to
limit patient care and unwittingly compromise patient confidentiality with
computers. Since computer technology intimidates most health care providers,
Freeny believes that his novel can be used as a fun teaching tool.
Found on the Andersen Consulting website, this press release discusses
the joint venture between Andersen Consulting and Health Systems Design
to "provide business solutions that will help large managed care organizations
achieve maximum value from their business process and information systems
investments."
This extremely comprehensive glossary is intended as a reference guide for anyone in the health care industry, particular in the policy arena. If offers 40 pages of health care terms, concepts, definitions, and acronyms that are updated to keep pace with the evolving health care system. It also provides epidemiological and statistical terms, as well as accounting and economic terms and definitions. A fantastic resource!
| Note: The information below may contain additional relevant materials and documents. Some of the information may be duplicate. The evaluations depend on both the student doing the review and the information contained at the time of the review. Sites are subject to change! |