Health Information Management: Improving Patient Care

Given the transition of most health systems today, the management of information concerning patients’ medical backgrounds has turned into an efficient, accurate and safe practice. Health Information Management (HIM), as the name suggests, addresses all aspects of how patient data is managed. Like any other industry, the healthcare services relies on specialized individuals who are at risk of facing various challenges. This in turn positively affects how care delivery is administered to the patients. In the present paper we shall try to answer the question of in which ways, does particularly Health Information Making Managing contribute to the development of patient care and why is it very important for the future of healthcare.

The Scope of Health Information Management within the Health Sector

Health Information Management is the acquisition, analysis and modelling of data, pertaining to the medical and other information necessary for delivering the best and effective healthcare services. HIM professionals work in the shadows to strive for getting the right data at the ear of healthcare providers at the moment of decision making.

Health Information Management remains partly responsible for the proper keeping of patient files or records accounting over and above medical records. Such documents one can find include medical history, diagnostics, procedures, and charges for issued services among others. As such, she points out that the HIM specialists maintain correct documentation assisting health professionals understand the history of health status of a patient aiding them to take better care and treatment of that patient.

Besides, in addition to the above Health Information Management is also tasked with the safe storage and retrieval of patient information to the relevant parties when needed. This helps in upholding the privacy of patients’ records and at the same time allows health professionals to have access to the information needed as fast as possible to provide better and appropriate services.

Improving Patient Outcomes with Relevant Information

Provision of services in health care is dependent on proper and timely data from the patients. It is health information Management that ensures that patient’s details are captured in more timely and accurate manner helping out in correction of mistakes that may occur and cause wrong treatment of patients.

Let us take the example of a hypothetical case where a patient has already been diagnosed with several drug allergies and is brought to the hospital. If this information is properly documented, health care providers will know not to use drugs that would cause an allergic reaction. If this information is not provided, or incorrectly filled out, the patient might sustain serious damage.

Health Information Management realizes the importance of such information and ensures that it is properly recorded, retained, and made available to health care professionals. Such assistance is not only helpful in reducing medical blunders but also helps in giving patients the right treatment that befits their medical history.

Streamlining Healthcare Processes

Health Information Management is generally seen to improve document turnaround time among other operational procedures within the healthcare system. HIM makes it possible for patients’ data to be collected and organized in a manner that minimizes the time and effort needed to obtain and analyze patients’ data.

This is especially critical in emergencies, where every second is crucial. Such information can be the difference between life and death for a patient. For example, in case of a patient who has had a bad car accident, being able to retrieve his medical history, current medications, and allergies at that moment can assist the caregivers in determining the course of action to take regarding treatment.

Additionally, Health Information Management constitutes the barriers to the duplication of certain functions in the healthcare system. When health information management specialists create and organize a single database of patient data, they help to avoid extra tests or treatments therefore economizing time and resources. This increases the likelihood of delivering effective health care while cutting down the total cost of treatment.

Ensuring Data Security and Patient Privacy

As cyber attacks and data leaks are becoming the order of the day, protecting the data of patients remains one of the greatest challenges to healthcare institutions. Health Information Management professionals are key in preventing unauthorized access to patients’ information which protects the data.

HIM practitioners typically utilize mechanisms that include but are not limited to encryption, implementing access control measures or performing audits at intervals to reduce threats to patient information. They further make sure that health caregivers adhere to policies and legal frameworks like the HIPAA intended to safeguard the privacy of patients.

Adhering to the requirements of Health Information Management encourages patients to trust healthcare providers about the safety and confidentiality of their health information. If patients have confidence that their sensitive information would be kept private, then there are higher chances that they will divulge such information to the healthcare providers. This consequently brings about a wider range of more precise and honest patient records and hence improves care delivery.

Supporting the decisions with credible information

Health Information Management is not only about protecting the privacy of the patients and the patient data, but about presenting the data for the right purposes in healthcare too. The HIM professionals assist in the interpretation of such data and analysis of the patients in order to give vital information helpful in making decisions on the best treatment for the patients.

Through examination of the patients’ data, HIM practitioners could assist in highlighting areas that necessitate controlling, such as tracing the who’s and the where’s of patients diagnosed with a certain ailment or who develop a common complication from a drug. It is further this information that can be fed into the health system to be able to come up with preventive strategies or even modify any current treatment measures leading to better patient care.

Furthermore, Health Information Management promotes evidence-based practice through the provision of resources such as up-to-date research as well as the most current guideline to the healthcare professionals. HIM specialists ensure that healthcare practitioners receive the required knowledge for prudent and evidence based clinical practice by collaborating clinical studies with patients’ facts.

Improving Patient Engagement and Satisfaction

The engagement of patients in one of the determinants that lead to enhanced quality and improved patient end results. The potentiality of the patients towards their engagement is improved by Health Information Management through getting the patients rights to their own health information.

In the current age of EHRs, people can now view their medical records through a health-care provider’s web portal, view their test results, or messenger their providers. Not only does this allow patients to take a more active role in their own healthcare harnessing its noble potential, but it also improves doctor patient communications.

Also, by placing accurate and up to date health information in the hands of the patients, Health Information Management enhances patient satisfaction. When patients feel that they have been presented with the necessary information and offered some degree of control over their treatment options, they are more likely to appreciate the services offered.

The Upcoming Trends in Health Information Management

With the change in the health sector, the services that will be offered under Health Information Management will also change. IT improvements such as AI and machine learning will be some of the factors expected to improve the tasks of HIM specialists in the future.

For example, HIM practitioners can utilize the tools built with artificial intelligence to derive relationships in the patients’ records that may prove to be beneficial in the long run through giving faster treatment to the patients. Moreover, the historical information may be exploited using machine learning approaches to try and understand what the outcome of a particular group of patients attending to the provider may be like.

Furthermore, as healthcare focuses on improving healthcare delivery in return for set healthcare costs, health information management will continue to focus on meeting the needs of quality improvement activities, which are significantly restored. HIM Professionals will assist with collecting and evaluating information relating to patients to meet the standards set and understanding where improvements can be made.

Conclusion

Health Information Management is an integral part of today’s health and there’s no doubt its primary purpose is enhancing patient care through the accuracy, security and availability of patient information. HIM professionals support the delivery of high quality patient-centered care by optimizing health service processes, facilitating decisions and engaging patients.

Moving forward, the significance of Health Information Management is bound to keep increasing given the changing face of the healthcare industry. Keeping up with such technological advancement and the leading trends in the industry, HIM professionals will end up in a position not only to provide better health care to patients but also to aid the transformation of the preferred health care system in the times to come.