Lesson No. 3.

Overview of
Health
Informatics 1
Intended Learning Outcomes
At the end of the lesson, the students should be
able to:
1.Define health information technology;

2.Discuss health care software systems and health

information ecosystem;
3.Explain the advantages and disadvantages of
health informatics in the cloud; and
4.Describe the status of health informatics in the
Philippines. 2
 Health Information Technology

The dawn of the information age has

resulted in the generation of huge amounts
of routine data, particularly in health care,
which can become perplexing (confusing) to
process and analyze. This is the challenge
for health informatics-to make sense of large
amounts of data while ensuring that the
processes are valid and secure.
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The transition from a manual to a more
advanced health information system is an
overarching issue for providers of health care,
managers, policymakers, researchers, and
patients alike. While there are benefits, there
are also undeniable disadvantages. One
innovation that manages health information
for better service delivery is health
information technology.
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Rouse (2016) defines health
information technology (HIT) as
“the area of IT involving the
design, development, creation, use
and maintenance of information
systems for the health care
industry.
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 Cont…
Automated and interoperable health care
information systems are expected to
improve medical care, lower costs,
increase efficiency, reduce error, and
improve patient satisfaction while also
optimizing reimbursement for
ambulatory and in-patient health care
providers.”
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Health information technology vows to
provide innovation to health care
delivery and connection among users and
stakeholders in the e-health market.
Systems such as electronic health
records, decision support systems, and
personal health records are promising
and are becoming widely deployed
worldwide (Kushniruk & Borycki, 2017).
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Health Health Health
Information Informatics Information
Technology Management

Fig 3.1 Health Information Technology

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 Health Care Software Systems
Rouse (2016) enumerates the following types
of health information technology:
An electronic health record (EHR) is
also called an electronic medical record
(EMR). It is one of the fundamental
components of health information technology
infrastructure. EHR is the patient’s official
health record in digital form and this
information is shared across multiple health
care providers and agencies.
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 Health Care Software Systems
The other key elements are the personal
health record (PHR) and the health
information exchange (HIE). A PHR is a
person’s self-maintained health record
while the HIE is the health data
clearinghouse which is comprised of health
care organizations with interoperability
pact to share data among their health
information technology systems.
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 Health Care Software Systems
In the United States, since the inception of
the HITECH Act of 2009, the use and
implementation of HER systems have
increased dramatically. Hospitals and
physicians using the government-certified EHR
systems meet the meaningful use criteria and
are qualified to receive incentives. The said
criteria is regulated under the Office of the
National Coordinator (ONC) for health IT
which certifies approved IT technology use
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 Health Care Software Systems
Under the federal reimbursement program
and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid
Services (CMMS). However, meaningful
use is changing due to the Medicare
Access and Children’s Health Insurance
Plan Reauthorization Act (MACRA)
which is a law on value-based
reimbursement system passed by the US
Congress in 2015.
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 Health Care Software Systems

There are two widely used types of

health information technology, the picture
archiving and communication systems
(PACS) and vendor neutral archives
(VNA). These two help manage and store
the patients’ medical images.

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 Health Care Software Systems

PACS and VNAs integrate radiology into the

main hospital workflow. Radiology used to be
the primary repository for medical images.
Presently, other specialties such as cardiology
and neurology are also among the large-scale
producers of clinical images. VNAs can also be
installed for the purpose of merging stored
imaging data from various departments into a
multi-facility health care system.
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 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.
Individuals, patients, providers, hospital/health
systems, researchers, payors, suppliers, and systems
are potential stakeholders within such an ecosystem.
Each is involved in the creation, exchange, and use
of health information and/or data.
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 Health Information Ecosystem

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.

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 Health Informatics in the
Cloud
The role of cloud technology is
undeniably significant in our everyday lives.
Currently, 83 percent of health care
organizations are making use of cloud-based
applications, and it is changing the landscape
of the health care system and health
informatics. However, both benefits and threats
exist (University of Illinois, 2014).

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 Health Informatics in the
Cloud
Advantages of Cloud Technology:
1. Integrated and Efficient Patient Care
 Cloud technology offers a single access point
for patient information which allows multiple
doctors to review laboratory results or notes on
patients. Physicians can spend more time
deciding and performing patient treatment
instead of waiting for information from
different departments.
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 Health Informatics in the
Cloud

Advantages of Cloud Technology:

2. Better Management of Data
 The accumulation of electronic health records
will allow more meaningful data mining that
can better access the health of the general
public. More data can mean more opportunities
to identify trends in diseases and crises.

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 Health Informatics in the
Cloud
Disadvantages of Cloud Technology:
1. Potential Risks to Personal Information
 The strength of cloud technology is also very
same characteristic that makes it vulnerable to
data breaches. The information contained
within 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.
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 Health Informatics in the
Cloud
Disadvantages of Cloud Technology:
2. Cloud Setup Seems Cumbersome
 The transition from a traditional to an
automated system might be difficult for some
members of health care organizations that may
not be familiar with cloud technology. This
technology, however, will be adopted by more
institutions in the future. With proper education
and illustration of its function, hesitant
practitioners may be able to see its advantages.
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 Health Informatics in the
Philippines
Health informatics is the application of both
technology and systems in a health care setting. It
has been loosely practiced in the Philippines since
the 1980s. Practitioners who had access to IBM
(International Business Machines Corporation)
compatible machines used word processors to store
patient information. Since then, significant
milestones in health informatics have occurred over
the years, one of which is the Community Health
Information Tracking System (CHITS), a Linux,
Apache, MySQL, PHP-based system released under
the general public license (GPL). 22
 Health Informatics in the
Philippines
CHITS was named finalist at the Stockholm
Challenge 2006 and one of top three e-government
projects in the Philippines by the Asia Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APEC) Digital Opportunity
Center (ADOC).
CHITS is an electronic medical record (EMR)
developed through the collaboration of the
Information and Communication Technology
community and health workers, primarily designed
for use in Philippine health centers in disadvantaged
areas.
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 Health Informatics in the
Philippines

It is currently utilized in 111 government health

facilities. What used to be manually done, e.g.,
looking up a patient’s record for four to five minutes,
can now be executed within a couple of seconds. The
Implementation of CHITS has indeed resulted in
higher efficiency rate among health workers since
more time can be spent in providing patient care
(Philippine Council for Health Research and
Development, 2012).
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 Health Informatics in the
Philippines

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 filed. Health informatics is seen more as a
novelty rather than as a profession. When
professional and economic constraints come into
play, priorities shift towards clinical responsibilities
at the expense of health informatics as a discipline.

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 Health Informatics in the
Philippines

Another issue is that many decision-makers do

not use the benefits of information technology in the
health sector. The large initial expenditure for a
health information system remains another barrier to
the integration of IT in the Philippine health care
system (Marcelo, 2012).

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 END

Thank You For Listening!

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