LESSON 4: OVERVIEW OF HEALTH INFORMATICS
Health Information Technology is defined as “the area
of IT involving the design, development, creation, use,
and maintenance of information systems for the health
care industry. (Rouse, 2016)
Figure 4.1 Health Information Technology
 Health Information Technology
 Health Informatics
 Health information management
HEALTH CARE SOFTWARE SYSTEMS
The three fundamental components of the
Health information technology structure are: Electronic
Health Record (EHR), Personal Health Record (PHR), and
Health Information Exchange (HIE).
There are two widely used types of health
information technology that help manage and store
patient’s medical images are the Picture Archiving and
Communication Systems (PACS) and Vendor Neutral
Archives (VNA).
HEALTH INFORMATION ECOSYSTEM
The Healthcare Information and Management
Systems Society (2017) defines a health interoperability
ecosystem as a composition of individuals, systems, and
processes that share, exchange, and access all forms of
health information, including discrete, narrative, and
multimedia.
HEALTH INFORMATICS IN THE CLOUD
Advantages
 Integrated and efficient Patient Care
 Batter Management of Data
Disadvantages
 Potential Risks to Personal Information
 Cloud setup seems cumbersome
HEALTH INFORMATICS IN THE PHILIPPINES
Health Informatics is the application of both technology
and systems in a health care setting.
Community Health Information Tracking System
(CHITS) is an electronic medical record (EMR) utilized by
111 government facilities. CHITS was developed through
the collaboration of the Information and
Communication Technology community and health
workers, primarily designed for use in the Philippine
health centers in disadvantages areas.
Despite the development, health informatics in
the Philippines still suffers from various issues that
hamper progress, one of these is the lack of interest in
the field. Another issue is that the benefits of
information technology do not seem apparent to many
decision-makers in the health sector
KEY POINTS TO REMEMBER
 Health Information Technology (HIT) involves
the development and management of health
information for improved health service
delivery.
 The electronic health record (EHR) is the
central component of the HIT infrastructure.
 Picture archiving and communication systems
(PACS) and vendor neutral archives (VNAs) are
two widely used types of HIT that help
healthcare professionals store and manage
patients' medical images.
 An efficient health interoperability ecosystem
provides an information infrastructure that uses
technical standards, policies and protocols to
enable seamless and secure capture, discovery,
exchange and utilization of health information.
 The advantages of Health Informatics in the
cloud are Integrated and Efficient Patient Care
and better management of data.
 Despite the development, health informatics in
the Philippines still suffers from various issues
that hamper progress, one of these is the lack of
interest in the field. Another issue is that the
benefits of information technology do not seem
apparent to many decision-makers in the health
sector