Improving the efficiency, quality, cost-effectiveness, and safety of medical care delivery in our nation's health care system

Prepare a spreadsheet of cost savings data showing efficiency gains attributable to care coordination, and report your key findings in an executive summary, 3–4 pages in length.

The use of health information technology (HIT) has been upheld as having remarkable promise in improving the efficiency, quality, cost-effectiveness, and safety of medical care delivery in our nation’s health care system.

This assessment provides an opportunity for you to examine how utilizing HIT can positively affect the financial health of an organization, improve patient health, and create better health outcomes.

CONTEXT

Information plays a fundamental role in health care. Providers such as physicians and hospitals create and process information as they deliver care to patients. However, managing that information and using it productively poses an ongoing challenge, particularly in light of the complexity of the U.S. health care sector, with its many diverse settings for care and types of providers and services. HIT has the potential to considerably increase the productivity of the health sector by assisting providers in managing information. Furthermore, HIT can improve the quality of health care and, ultimately, the outcomes of that care for patients.

Questions to Consider

As you prepare to complete this assessment, you may want to think about other related issues to deepen your understanding or broaden your viewpoint. You are encouraged to consider the questions below and discuss them with a fellow learner, a work associate, an interested friend, or a member of your professional community. Note that these questions are for your own development and exploration and do not need to be completed or submitted as part of your assessment.

· What is the main focus of information-gathering in health care?

· How can care coordination efforts enhance the collection of evidence-based data and improve quality?

· What governmental entities are leading care coordination practices?

· What influence does data analysis have on the development and advancement of health care policy?

Suggested Resources

The resources provided here are optional. You may use other resources of your choice to prepare for this assessment; however, you will need to ensure that they are appropriate, credible, and valid.

HIT and Care Coordination

Note: The following articles address HIT and care coordination from different perspectives and in different situations. Select from this list the articles that are most interesting or relevant for you.

· Bates, D. W. (2015). Health information technology and care coordination: The next big opportunity for informatics? Yearbook of Medical Informatics, 10(1), 11–14.

. Identifies specific gaps in care coordination today, presents a framework for better coordinating care using HIT, then describes how specific technologies can be leveraged. Also discussed are the need to build and test specific interventions to improve HIT-related care coordination tools, and the key policy steps needed to accomplish this.

· Kravitz, R. L. (2015). Caring for the complex patient: The next hurdle for information technology is care coordination. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 30(8), 1043–1044.

. Asks whether technology is the answer to delivering care at the highest quality at the lowest cost.

· NewsEx. (2014). Patents; “method and system for automated healthcare care coordination and care transitions” in patent application approval process. (2014). Information Technology Newsweekly, 670.

. A news release containing information about a patent application for a method, computer-readable medium, and system for coordinating health care services.

· Piscotty, R. J., .Kalisch, B., & Gracey, T. A. (2015). Impact of healthcare information technology on nursing practice. Journal of Nursing Scholarship, 47(4), 287–293.

. Examines whether nurses’ perceptions of the impact of health care information technology on their practice mediates the relationship between electronic nursing care reminder use and missed nursing care.

· Richardson, J. E., Vest, J. R., Green, C. M., Kem, L. M., Kaushal, R., and the HITEC Investigators. (2015). A needs assessment of health information technology for improving care coordination in three leading patient-centered medical homes. Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 22(4), 815–820. Retrieved from https://academic.oup.com/jamia/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/jamia/ocu039

. An investigation of ways that patient-centered medical homes (PCMHs) are currently using health information technology (IT) for care coordination and what types of health IT are needed to improve care coordination.

· Rigby, M., Georgiou, A., Hyppönen, H., Ammenwerth, E., de Keizer, N., Magrabi, F., & Scott, P. (2015). Patient portals as a means of information and communication technology support to patient-centric care coordination – the missing evidence and the challenges of evaluation: A joint contribution of IMIA WG EVAL and EFMI WG EVAL. Yearbook of Medical Informatics, 10(1), 148–159.

. Discusses the potential contribution of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to enable patient-centric and coordinated care. Explores the role of patient portals as a developing ICT tool, assesses the available evidence, and describes the evaluation challenges.

· Saillour-Glenisson, F., Duhamel, S., Fourneyron, E., Huiart, L., Jean, P. J., Langlois, E., . . . Salmi, L. R. (2017). Protocole of a controlled before-after evaluation of a national health information technology-based program to improve healthcare coordination and access to information. BMC Health Services Research, 17, 1–11.

. Examines the role of HIT in improving health care coordination and access to information for health care providers, patients, and the population.

· Wodarski, J. S., & Green, P. D. (2015). Health information technology: An expanded care coordination in rural Tennessee. Social Work In Public Health, 30(5), 431–442.

. Examines the efficacy of HIT in a substance abuse treatment program.

Preparation

As the senior care coordinator in your organization, your manager has asked you to examine and report on how care coordination can generate cost savings, improve outcomes, enhance the collection of evidence-based data, and improve health care quality. She would like you to compile cost savings data in a well-organized spreadsheet and present your key findings in an executive summary.

Note: Remember that you can submit all, or a portion of, your draft spreadsheet and executive summary to Smarthinking for feedback, before you submit the final version for this assessment. However, be mindful of the turnaround time of 24–48 hours for receiving feedback, if you plan on using this free service.

Requirements

Determine how care coordination can reduce costs. Compile your cost savings data in a spreadsheet, using Microsoft Excel or suitable application of your choice. Your spreadsheet should contain at least four cost-saving elements that you will discuss in your executive summary. Identify the cost saving element, current costs, and anticipated savings.

If you elect to use an application other than Excel, check with your instructor to avoid potential file compatibility issues. Report key findings from your analysis in an executive summary.

Executive Summary Format and Length

Format your executive summary using APA style.

· Use the APA Style Paper Template, linked in the Required Resources. An APA Style Paper Tutorial is also provided (linked in the Suggested Resources) to help you in writing and formatting your executive summary. Be sure to include:

. A title page and reference page. An abstract is not required.

. A running head on all pages.

. Appropriate section headings.

· Your summary should be 4–5 pages in length, not including the title page and references page.

Supporting Evidence

Cite 4–5 sources of credible scholarly or professional evidence to support your cost savings analysis.

Analyzing Cost Savings

Note: The requirements outlined below correspond to the grading criteria in the scoring guide. Be sure that your analysis addresses each point, at a minimum. You may also want to read the Cost Savings Analysis Scoring Guide to better understand how each criterion will be assessed.

· Describe ways in which care coordination can generate cost savings.

. What are your primary sources of information?

. Are your conclusions substantiated by the data?

. What assumptions, if any, underlie your analysis?

· Explain how care coordination can promote improved health consumerism and effect positive health outcomes.

. What evidence do you have to substantiate your claims?

· Describe at least five ways in which care coordination efforts can enhance the collection of evidence-based data and improve quality through the application of an emerging health care model.

. Choose any emerging health care model.

· Present cost savings data and information clearly and accurately.

· Support main points, claims, and conclusions with relevant and credible evidence, correctly formatting citations and references using APA style.