At its core, Health Information Technology is essentially just information technology as it applies to health and medical care. Information Technology (IT) is generally well understood as the systems that are developed to manage and support information and the technological infrastructure within a company or organization. IT services maintain software, hardware, databases, and networks usually for specific business situations, while also providing support and services to ensure data security and to protect against cyber-attacks.
How Does Health Information Technology Compare?
Health Information Technology is just a logical extension on what you already understand as Information technology services, but the “health” aspect does have a way of spinning up the whole discussion into something that becomes much more convoluted. It’s essential to protect and secure your data in any Information Technology scenario, of course, but the level of privacy in healthcare delves into areas of compliance and legal ramifications. With adequately constructed and deployed health information technology, a practitioner can access medical history, track test results, and compare diagnostic data with a body of health-related data.
Health Information Technology has become even more accessible and interconnected with business-to-business (B2B) solutions like ChartSwap, which allows providers and requestors to easily (and reliably) exchange information. It’s all on one platform, and it enables providers to track all of their payments, requests and download activity in one centralized location. It also offers fast, free and secure access to any requestor in a user-friendly online portal that providers can easily utilize.
Why is Health Information Technology Important?
Not only does Health Information Technology (HIT) allow providers to quickly access diagnostic data, medical history, lab results and other critical healthcare details, but it also allows you to organize and manage that health-related data. Doctors and nurses have all the information they need to quickly diagnose and treat illnesses or other conditions, with much better accuracy. In the long run, HIT helps both providers and their patients save time as well as money — and allows patients to have access to better healthcare services.
Beyond the diagnostic benefits, though, there are many other reasons for maintaining your office’s medical records in a Health Information Technology infrastructure. Records are all in one place, of course, but they are also maintained and managed with higher security. Instead of having all your health records in paper files, which is essentially accessible to anyone who knows where to find them, your electronic health records (EHRs) are maintained with a higher level of security. That protects your patients’ personal health information (PHI) and ensures that sensitive data remains private and secure.
What Does Health Information Technology Do for You?
In general terms, it’s great to know that your electronic health records are safe and secure, but you also have to think about how access to medical information can affect patients’ overall health and ongoing wellness. With instant access to health information, doctors and medical teams can offer the most accurate and effective treatment, which includes the correct prescriptions, without the possibility of harmful drug interactions.
Health Information Technologyalso has the added benefit of making patients feel like they are the central focus of their own healthcare experience. Instead of having to ask the same questions every visit, doctors can easily review patient medical records and quickly offer the best possible diagnosis for well-documented conditions. While it’s more accurate, effective and even more equitable, Health Information Technology also allows patients to take control of their health and wellness in ways that were never possible before.
Patient portals are a great example of HIT in action, and they are changing the entire structure of the healthcare industry. Similarly, Health Information Exchange (HIE) platforms like ChartSwap are revolutionizing how medical offices operate by streamlining and simplifying the record retrieval and A/R processes through the use of technology.
Learn How You Can Benefit From Using ChartSwap
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Changing gears with eROI. Henry Ford Hospital switches to an electronic process for managing release-of-information requests without having to ask their CFO.
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