Standards and Regulatory Challenges in Healthcare Informatics

Discuss several standards and regulations as they apply to the use of information technology in health care and the impact of these standards on everyday practice. Health care is changing to include an increased emphasis on consumer health services. This shift to the ‘Information Age’ is inextricably linked to the need to reduce healthcare costs and the widespread implementation of several information technology advancements. The Information Age, typified by "consumerist" relationships, draws on practitioner-patient partnerships for managing healthcare delivery by using information geared specifically toward each patient, framed within a context of applicable more general information. Several standards and regulations influence and shape the delivery of health care. Consider the use of information technology in health care and the impact of these standards (i.e. JCAHO, HL7) on everyday practice. Many of the below articles will look at standards and integration of health information within and among healthcare organizations. Other initiatives such as the Leap Frog Group (a collective of business insurance purchasers) determined that computerized physician/provider order entry (CPOE) had the potential to decrease medical error, particularly errors that occur as a result of transcription of the provider's handwritten orders. As a result, many organizations are moving towards or have already implemented some form of a computerized order entry system. Read the following: • Get to Know JCAHO and Its Standards (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. • HL7 United States (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. • The Leapfrog Group Fact Sheet ________________________________________ Now complete the following: • Compare and contrast to the JCAHO and HL7 articles above. • How are JCAHO and HL7 different - are they standards, regulations or guidelines? • Why are JCAHO and HL7 important?        

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