How Is Information Technology Transforming Health Care?
How is information technology (IT) transforming health care? The impact of new initiatives which provide patient access to providers is enormous and potentially astronomical. Consider the ways in which initiatives such as patient portals, innovative care such as medical apps or tele-visits, and directives such as Meaningful Use improve patient health clinical outcomes. How do these initiatives impact the financial health of the company? Will these costly IT initiatives create a positive return on investment?
To prepare for this Assignment:
Read this week’s resources, then identify a new initiative utilizing new technology in your organization or a health care organization with which you are familiar. (Examples: online training for annual competency training, tele-visits, a move from traditional servers to cloud data management, operations systems in place in supply chain management, bar coding, inventory management, etc.) Once you have identified the initiative, conduct an online search to find information about IT implementation for similar initiatives in other industries.
The Assignment:
In 3–4 pages, describe the operational impacts of the new initiative you identified. Explain how the initiative transformed your organization. Apply your observations about other industries to your analysis of the initiatives in your organization. Assess how the common traits of a successful IT transformation apply to your organization.
Assignment: Operational Process Flow
Process improvement requires the analysis of processes and of data. In this Assignment, you will develop a process flow for an operational activity that takes place in your organization, whether or not you work in the field of health care.
To prepare for this Assignment:
Read the articles and watch the videos on process mapping and critical path. Identify an operational activity within your organization, or an organization with which you are familiar. These activities could include business planning, staff training initiatives, changes in case management, etc.
The Assignment:
Using what you have learned about process mapping in this week’s resources, create a process mapping flowchart to measure operational data of the activity using Microsoft PowerPoint or Microsoft Visio. Identify the important measurements within your process which provide operational data. Then, based on the process map you have created, list and describe these measurements and the critical path within your process, utilizing any additional process improvement tools necessary. Your completed Assignment should include the flowchart, a description of process measurements, the critical path analysis, and a 1- to 2-page summary.
