The Final Project should demonstrate an understanding of the reading assignments, class discussions, your own research and the application of new knowledge.  It should utilize previous skills developed in foundational health care courses and apply them within the context and viewpoint of a health care administrator and their role in managing health and human services. 
For the Final Project, the student will select one of the following topics and conduct scholarly and professional research while integrating the course’s learning outcomes to address a selected topic:

Research specific leadership and management traits and theories necessary for managing a multidisciplinary and multicultural health care organization to promote organizational effectiveness.
Present how strategic planning, performance improvement, and information systems are interrelated and fundamental to the delivery of quality health care.
Examine the financial characteristics of health care delivery along with managing costs, revenues, and human resources.
Analyze ethical and legal concepts, including specific federal regulations, required of health care organizations to ensure the delivery of high quality health care that protects patient safety.

Research Requirements
Academic research and papers must meet certain standards of quality that are recognized by the academic community. What constitutes quality academic research?

The use of primary (original), credible sources written by experts in the field of study.
Ensuring secondary sources are supported by research in primary sources.
Making sure all research is relevant and that material used is pertinent to the area of study.
In graduate work, the use of peer-reviewed journal articles (journal articles reviewed by recognized experts in the relevant field of study) is required.
Keep in mind that educational websites may be appropriate, in some cases, but should be evaluated carefully.

The Ashford University Library offers many excellent databases and other resources to assist you in conducting scholarly research.
What sources are not acceptable for academic research and referencing?

Encyclopedias
Dictionaries
Wikipedia, other wikis, or blogs
Websites and other sources that do not provide quality researched materials (e.g., they do not use credible sources to support the information in the document).

All research must reflect professional academic protocol and must be documented according to APA standards as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. 
Creating the Final Project
Present your research in the form of a comprehensive 10- to 15-slide PowerPoint presentation (excluding title and reference slides) with detailed speaker notes including each of the elements listed below:
I. Introduction
Describe the issue. Include why it was selected, the perspective of your approach to the issue, and the scope of the paper or presentation. In essence, describe in this area what is being covered. Be specific and to the point. This is an important part of the project as it engages the reader and sets the scope of the research.
II. Statement of the Issue to be Investigated
Describe why the topic is a relevant problem or issue. It is important to provide literature sources in support of the importance of the need/issue/topic.  For example, if you are interested in researching the issue of nutrition in early childhood brain development among American children – cite literature identifying the scope of the problem (for example:  the number of malnourished children, the implications of malnourishment on learning and brain development; and long term implications). Overall, this section should detail what makes this topic or issue so important that you are spending time and energy researching it. What is the impact of the problem if nothing is done to correct the situation?
III. Research Sources
This section documents the relevant research reflecting the topic of the Final Project. In this section, paraphrased narratives of the actual research studies are reported and should represent the current research related to the topic area. In general, your research should:

Identify your chosen topic and what has happened in the specific research of the topic (describe the study, sample, findings, important points from the discussion in the research article, and any variables that may influence the findings of the research).
Discuss any key elements of the topic that may be instructional, legal, ethical, social, et (what is projected if nothing is done? what has been tried?). Support this section with relevant resource citations.
Provide an analysis of the research articles used, including: explaining what was done in the study, what the target population was, information about who did the research (the author), what was found with the study, and any implications of the findings to your topic or issue.

IV. Conclusion
In this section, provide a general, but thorough summary reviewing:  why the topic was selected; the problem or issue briefly stated; the approach that was used; findings; and solutions.  In this section, the reader or audience should have a good idea of what the researcher did and what was found.
V. References
The references should be listed on a new page or slide and must be formatted according to APA requirements as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. You must use a minimum of six to eight scholarly sources.
VI. Creating a Good PowerPoint Presentation
Create your Final Project as if you were going to present it to the Board of Directors (BOD) of your organization.  Therefore, it is very important not to overload your slides as you do not want your audience to feel as if it has to read the entire project.  Your PowerPoint slides should be created with summarized bullet points on each slide, and the bulk of what you will be discussing about each bullet should be provided in APA format Notes Section under each slide.  Please ensure to follow APA, avoid first person, proof read your work prior to submitting it.  

Here are weekly assignments to address for each week which will contribute to the Final Project: Each weekly assignment will between 250-350 words.

· Week 1 – Develop your network boundary based on the requirements provided, see Appendix A of the syllabus. Follow the assignment in Appendix A. You will need to draw the network boundary and provide a detailed network description of the network boundary.

Week 2 – The physician’s office now wants to add tele-medicine to the functionality of their network. Explain in great detail, 500 words or more how this will impact the physician’s office and what we need to do from an information assurance perspective. Make sure you include change management in this discussion.

Week 3 – Conclude with a 500-word narrative explaining why information security is important in the Healthcare field. Cite Scripture to demonstrate your understanding of how faith integrates with the information technology and healthcare fields. Check to ensure that APA format has been used and you have at least 6 peer-reviewed references.

APPENDIX A
Information Assurance Project
In order to understand the practical impact of Information Assurance, we will work on a project over the next 8 weeks. One of the major requirements in information assurance is documentation and being able to articulate your understanding of a security requirement or control. Please design a network for a hypothetical physician’s office and provide a network description with the following:
1 Server with Scheduling software (pick one)
1 Server for billing (pick one)
1 Server with a data base for patient data – Oracle 12
1 Server for email – Microsoft Exchange Email
The office has 10 patient rooms with a desktop in each room running Windows 10 for the OS
The office is based on wireless networking with TCP/IP.
There are two doctors in this office.
This office has an Internet connection to the mother company. 
The network boundary for this assignment is just this physician’s office.
In your network description please provide the following:
Describe the purpose of this network. 
Describe the network and equipment, the servers and the software in place.
Describe the security you have in place.

Course Scenario
Chaparral Regional Hospital is a small, urban hospital of approximately 60 beds, and offers the following:

Emergency room services
Intensive care
Surgical care
Obstetrics
Diagnostic services
Some rehabilitation therapies
Inpatient pharmacy services
Geriatric services
Consumer physician referral services

Recently, the CEO has been hearing complaints from both patients and staff, varying from long wait times to rude physicians. You have been hired to design and implement a Quality Improvement Plan to help uncover quality problems and to satisfactorily resolve them.
Scenario Continued
You have been asked to present a narrated visual report for the CEO and Board of Directors on a video conference call to share your major findings and to discuss recommendations.
Competencies:

Describe different quality methods within healthcare.
Explain the basic models of quality improvement in healthcare.
Evaluate the role and importance of patient satisfaction.
Evaluate the role and importance of the patient experience.
Apply statistics to different quality methods in healthcare.
Apply quality improvement methods.

Instructions
Your visual report should include the following:

Types of measurements that will be used.
Overall design of the survey.
Identifies who will lead the QI task force.
Identifies who should be on the task force.
Suggestions for implementing the results of the survey.

Your visual report should be done using Microsoft PowerPoint, or any other presentation software of your choosing that also allows for narration to be added.
APA formatting for the References slide, and proper grammar, punctuation, and form are required. 
Please see attached grading metrics for information to be covered

Course Scenario
Chaparral Regional Hospital is a small, urban hospital of approximately 60 beds, and offers the following:

Emergency room services
Intensive care
Surgical care
Obstetrics
Diagnostic services
Some rehabilitation therapies
Inpatient pharmacy services
Geriatric services
Consumer physician referral services

Recently, the CEO has been hearing complaints from both patients and staff, varying from long wait times to rude physicians. You have been hired to design and implement a Quality Improvement Plan to help uncover quality problems and to satisfactorily resolve them.
Scenario Continued
You have been asked to present a narrated visual report for the CEO and Board of Directors on a video conference call to share your major findings and to discuss recommendations.
Competencies:

Describe different quality methods within healthcare.
Explain the basic models of quality improvement in healthcare.
Evaluate the role and importance of patient satisfaction.
Evaluate the role and importance of the patient experience.
Apply statistics to different quality methods in healthcare.
Apply quality improvement methods.

Instructions
Your visual report should include the following:

Types of measurements that will be used.
Overall design of the survey.
Identifies who will lead the QI task force.
Identifies who should be on the task force.
Suggestions for implementing the results of the survey.

Your visual report should be done using Microsoft PowerPoint, or any other presentation software of your choosing that also allows for narration to be added.
APA formatting for the References slide, and proper grammar, punctuation, and form are required. 
Please see attached grading metrics for information to be covered

Here are weekly assignments to address for each week which will contribute to the Final Project: Each weekly assignment will between 250-350 words.

· Week 1 – Develop your network boundary based on the requirements provided, see Appendix A of the syllabus. Follow the assignment in Appendix A. You will need to draw the network boundary and provide a detailed network description of the network boundary.

· Week 2 – Describe the security and privacy requirements for the network boundary. This is a physician’s office, so please describe the HIPAA security and privacy requirements you need to follow for your network boundary. Use the HIPAA, HiTech, and Omnibus Laws to help you create HIPAA security and privacy requirements.

· Week 3 – We need to ensure the physician’s office is secure and the HIPAA data is protected. Read NIST SP 800-53 rev 4. How can this document help you ensure your physician’s office is secure? Out of the 18 control families, pick two control families and address the controls in complete sentences for your network boundary.

· Week 4 – We need to ensure the network boundary is hardened. Please review the DOD STIG for Oracle 12. Select 20 controls and address how the Oracle server has been hardened in the physician’s office.

· Week 5 – We are preparing for an audit of the system for HIPAA compliance. What are all of the documents we will need to have prepared for the upcoming audit? Please explain why each document is important. What scans should you run on the system, please describe the scan and on why systems the scan ought to be facilitated.

· Week 6 – The auditors have finished their assessment. In Appendix B, we have the findings from the audit. Please address in detail how each finding should be mitigated. Match up each control to the SP800-53 control family and control number.

· Week 7 – The physician’s office now wants to add tele-medicine to the functionality of their network. Explain in great detail, 500 words or more how this will impact the physician’s office and what we need to do from an information assurance perspective. Make sure you include change management in this discussion.

· Week 8 – Turn-in of FINAL PROJECT. Bring together your past 7 weeks of work. Add narrative transitions where appropriate and ensure you have addressed the instructor’s feedback provided each week. Conclude your project with a 500 word narrative explaining why information security is important in the Healthcare field. Cite Scripture to demonstrate your understanding of how faith integrates with the information technology and healthcare fields. Check to ensure that APA format has been used and you have at least 14 peer-reviewed references.

APPENDIX A

Information Assurance Project
In order to understand the practical impact of Information Assurance, we will work on a project over the next 8 weeks. One of the major requirements in information assurance is documentation and being able to articulate your understanding of a security requirement or control. Please design a network for a hypothetical physician’s office and provide a network description with the following:
1 Server with Scheduling software (pick one)
1 Server for billing (pick one)
1 Server with a data base for patient data – Oracle 12
1 Server for email – Microsoft Exchange Email
The office has 10 patient rooms with a desktop in each room running Windows 10 for the OS
The office is based on wireless networking with TCP/IP.
There are two doctors in this office.
This office has an Internet connection to the mother company. 
The network boundary for this assignment is just this physician’s office.
In your network description please provide the following:
Describe the purpose of this network. 
Describe the network and equipment, the servers and the software in place.
Describe the security you have in place.

APPENDIX B
The auditors have completed their assessment. The following are the findings determined during the audit. Please address in detail how each finding should be mitigated.
  
Identified   Vulnerability

Identify   the Matching Control in the SP 800-53 – Control Family and Control Number

What would   be the appropriate mitigations?
 
1. People can gain physical access to the physician’s office   without anyone checking ID.

 
2. The server room does not have a lock on the door.

 
3. There are default admin accounts with elevated privileges

 
4. The receptionist of the office provided the password to the   server via an inbound phone call.

 
5. There are unused open ports on all of the servers.

 
6. The scheduling software shows verbose code.

 
7. There is no encryption on the network. PHI/PII data is sent over   the wireless network in clear text.

 
8. The PHI/PII data on the database server resides on unencrypted   drives.

 
9. In an interview with the Nurse, she stated there is no training   for HIPAA Security or Privacy provided.

 
10. On the desktops, there are Microsoft vulnerabilities in the   Windows 10 OS which have not been patched.

 
11. The auditor watched an employee make changes to the Oracle   server without following change management.