INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATED AND EFFICIENT PATIENT CARE
"The area of IT involving the design, development, Advantage 1
creation, use, and maintenance of information systems for the
healthcare industry."
Automated and interoperable healthcare information
systems are expected to:
1. improve medical care
2. lower costs
3. increase efficiency
4. reduce error
5. improve patient satisfaction
ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORD (EHR)
- the central component of the health IT infrastructure
EHR or electronic medical record – a person's
official, digital health record and is shared among multiple
healthcare providers and agencies
Other key elements of the health IT infrastructure:
a. personal health record (PHR) - person's self-maintained
health record, and the health information exchange (HIE)
b. health data clearinghouse or a group of healthcare
organizations that enter an interoperability pact and agree to
share data between their various IT systems
PICTURE ARCHIVING AND COMMUNICATION
SYSTEMS (PACS)
VENDOR NEUTRAL ARCHIVE (VNAS)
- store and manage patient's medical images.
- radiology departments have been the primary
repositories of medical images
- now: cardiology, neurology has also become
large-scale producers of clinical images
HEALTH INFORMATION ECOSYSTEM
Composed of individuals, systems, and processes that want to
share, exchange, and access all forms of health information,
including discrete, narrative, and multimedia
HEALTH INTEROPERABILITY ECOSYSTEM
 each potential stakeholder is involved in
the creation, exchange, and use of health information and/or
data
 provides an information infrastructure that
uses technical standards, policies, and protocols to enable
seamless and secure capture, discovery, exchange, and
utilization of health information
HEALTH INFORMATICS IN THE CLOUD
83% of healthcare organizations are making use of
cloud-based applications, and it is changing the
landscape of the healthcare system and health
informatics.
CLOUD COMPUTING
- a method for delivering IT services in which
resources are retrieved from the internet through
web-based tools and applications
 Cloud technology offers a single access point for
patient information, and this allows
multiple doctors to review lab results or notes on patients
 Physicians can spend more time deciding
and performing patient treatment instead of waiting he needs
coming from different
departments.
POTENTIAL RISKS TO PERSONAL INFORMATION
Disadvantage 1
 This information contained with medical
records may be subjected to theft or other
violations of privacy and confidentiality.
 Fortunately, safeguards may be put in place
to minimize such threats, such as encryption, proper data
disposal, and other security features.
BETTER MANAGEMENT OF DATA
Advantage 2
 The accumulation of electronic health
records will allow more meaningful data mining that can
better assess the health of
the public.
 More data can mean more opportunities to
identify trends in diseases and crises.
CLOUD SET-UP SEEMS CLUMBERSOME
Disadvantage 2
 The transition from a traditional to an
automated system might be difficult to some
members of healthcare organization, particularly for smaller or
older practices that may not be familiar with cloud technology.
HEALTH INFORMATICS IN THE PHILIPPPINES
 Health informatics had been loosely practiced in the
Philippines as early as 1980s.
 Practitioners who had access to IBM compatible
machines were already using word processors to store
patient information
 CHITS - a Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP-based
system release under the public license (GPL)**
CHITS - Community Health Information Tracking System
**finalist at the Stockholm Challenge
2006; one of the 3 e-government projects
in the PH by the Asia Pacific Economic
Cooperation Digital Opportunity Center
CHITS
 an open-source, web-based patient tracking system
custom-designed for government health centers;
committed to complying with current and future
DOH requirements
 Developed by Dr. Herman Tolentino
 Composed of infrastructure (hardware and network),
software –training and certification
Features:
• Master patient index
• Consult history
• Special modules: Maternal care – Child
care National Tuberculosis Program
General services
• Generate reports required by FHSIS

- an electronic medical record (EMR)

developed through the collaboration of the Information and
Communication Technology
community and health workers

- primarily designed for use in PH health

centers in disadvantaged areas

HEALTH INFORMATICS IN THE PHILIPPINES

Despite the developments in health
informatics in the Philippines, the nation
still suffers from various issues that hamper
its progress:

1. Lack of human resource

2. The benefits of information technology do not
seem apparent to many decision-makers in the
healthcare sector
3. Large initial expenditure for a health information system
remains another barrier to the integration of IT in the PH
healthcare