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Strategic planning is a process typically conducted by senior management that describes the organization’s future state. Strategic planning typically covers a period of at least three to five years; considers past successes and failures; analyzes the current and future environment; and then maps out the directions the organization needs to follow to accomplish its mission. Strategic planning for health information technology can be a frustrating and time-consuming endeavor because plans are frequently threatened with obsolescence by technology changes and revised government mandates before the plans are even fully drafted. Historically, strategic planning for health IT has focused almost exclusively on technology and rarely considered people, policies, and processes that ensure users will actually use and benefit from the technology. Providers contend that the EHR has increased their clerical workload and does not improve patient care. While the vision for EHRs was laudable and many physicians do find value in health IT, many of the people charged with implementation lost sight of the human factors as they rushed to earn Meaningful Use incentives for technology that met federal certification requirements. Examples of the challenges facing healthcare organizations today include:
Cybersecurity
Telehealth
Invoicing and payment processing – patients are becoming responsible for a larger portion of their medical bills and patient collections is an issue
Price Transparency
Patient experience – As more patients are responsible for a larger portion of their healthcare bill, they naturally demand better services from their providers
Payment models that are based on patient outcomes rather than service quantity
Big data – data is scattered across multiple parties and systems including payers, providers, and patients
Case Scenario:
You are the Director of Health Information Services for a medium-sized hospital with approximately 180 beds. While the healthcare organization is contending with all of the challenges above, the providers at the hospital are burned out and continue to report that the EHR is not user friendly and they are upset that they are spending so much of their time on clerical matters and not enough time providing patient care. The organization is in the process of IT strategic planning. They are currently using the Meditech EHR and have implemented all of the modules offered by Meditech. This includes all of the source systems, core clinical EHR systems, and supporting infrastructure, and they are continuing to work on further development and implementation of connectivity systems (see Figure 1.6 on page 14 of the Margret A. textbook).
They are approaching health IT strategic planning from a systems perspective and would like you to guide the process. You were involved with the implementation of all the EHR systems and are the most knowledgeable about the current state of the organization’s EHR. You are also the most knowledgeable about the 21st Century Cures Act, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services strategy to reduce the regulatory and administrative burden related to the use of health IT, including EHRs. You know that the organization should be considering EHR optimization, looking at the guidance coming from the federal government, addressing provider concerns, and all of the other challenges facing the organization (refer to the list above).
To “kick off” the health IT strategic planning process, you will plan a day-long health IT strategic planning retreat. The healthcare organization’s “C” suite (CEO, CFO, CMIO, COO, etc.) will be in attendance, as well as all the directors of clinical departments (nursing, lab, radiology, pharmacy, etc.) and directors of departments that comprise the revenue cycle (A/R, admissions, billing, etc.). You need to come up with a plan to tackle everything that has been described thus far in the scenario. The first part of your plan involves delivering a presentation on the current state of the organization’s EHR and the short-term EHR goals with projects that are already underway. You must also share information about the challenges facing the organization, both internal and external, in order to set the stage for a productive discussion and planning process.
Assignment Instructions:
This is a written assignment. Develop a paper addressing two external challenges and the internal challenge of physician burnout due to low EHR usability. You may select any two external challenges listed above in the assignment introduction.
The intent of this paper is to research these external and internal challenges in order to convey the importance of addressing these challenges in the health IT strategic plan. Consider what information is most important to the stakeholders in attendance at the retreat.
Your paper should:
Explain each challenge – provide information on the current state of the challenge in healthcare, the important aspects of the challenge, and how it is impacting the healthcare organization. Consider short-term and long-term impacts.
Propose a solution or an approach for addressing each challenge in the health IT strategic plan.
Logistics & Format: Minimum of 6 pages, maximum of 9 pages. Times New Roman, 12-point font, and double-spaced. Follow the correct APA Style and include all required components including a title page and reference page. The title page and reference page do not count toward the page number requirement.
Organization & Comprehension: Logical sentence structure, good transitions between topics, synthesis of information, demonstration of thorough comprehension, and writing clarity (grammar/spelling) will be assessed as well.
Help with Research and Writing: View the CSS Writing and Research online resource for help with all aspects of your writing.
References: Include at least 3 citations in the paper. There must be one citation for each external challenge and one for the internal challenge. These citations must be from peer-reviewed literature. You are welcome to include non-peer-reviewed sources (i.e. newspapers, websites, magazines), but you must include at least 3 citations that are peer-reviewed. Remember to use APA formatting!
Submitting your assignment: Written assignments must be submitted in Brightspace as an attachment. Assignments need to be written using some type of word processing software (preferably Microsoft Word). Be sure to include your name in the assignment file name as well as in the document header.
YOU WILL BE PENALIZED IF YOU DO THE FOLLOWING:
Excessively quote content from other sources. Try to paraphrase, synthesize, and summarize literature without copying and pasting the content into your paper.
Do not correctly use APA formatting.
Do not include at least 3 citations from peer-reviewed literature.
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