Addressing Concerns about Governance, Compliance, Data Quality, and Integrity regarding use of Electronic Health Record (EHR) System

Implementation of electronic health record (EHR) systems or IT system in an organization come with various concerns. It is the responsibility of the chief information officer to identify and address the concerns when implementing the use of the system. Most of the concerns revolve around leadership and the use of healthcare information. Major leadership concerns include interdepartmental coordination, leadership style used, moral and legal issues of the system, staff development, timeframes and scheduling, and budgeting. Healthcare data is useful in improving the quality of healthcare services. However, there are some problems associated with the use of healthcare data, such as policy issues concerning security. Adhering to the components of AHIMA’s health care data quality model, such as data protection, helps in addressing the health data issues. Get in touch with us at eminencepapers.com. We offer assignment help with high professionalism.

Leadership concerns

Leadership concerns related to the implementation of the EHR system involve the direction and interaction of the organization’s executive. The major leadership concerns that should be addressed are the interdepartmental coordination, leadership style used, moral and legal issues of the system, staff development, timeframes and scheduling, and budgeting. One of the leadership concerns is interdepartmental coordination. Healthcare organizations have different departments that are related, and therefore, the system should ensure there is proper coordination for the effectiveness and efficiency of services (Zou, Liang, & He, 2020). Changing to the new system may bring some challenges, such as sharing data with the wrong department. Some departments may find it hard to use the new system. Ensuring effective communication between departments will ensure proper interdepartmental coordination. Each department should have a leader who, in collaboration with each other, ensures the proper use of the system (Zou, Liang, & He, 2020). Using a divisional organization structure will help in addressing the concern of interdepartmental coordination. The leadership style is also a concern. The use of the new IT system leads to change, and some workers may resist. Using an autocratic style may lead to more resistance and challenges. Democratic leadership, where all employees are involved in making decisions based on the challenges experienced in using the system, addresses the leadership style concern.

The other leadership concern that should be addressed is the moral and legal issues of using the IT system. Practices and activities when using the system may be against moral and legal requirements (Zou, Liang, & He, 2020). Leaders should, therefore, ensure that using the system is safe for both the users and patients. The system should comply with existing laws. Some staff may be unable to use the system, leading to concern for staff development. There should be staff development through continuous education and training on IT. Staff should also be motivated to use the system. Planning in terms of timeframes and scheduling is a concern that might arise (Zou, Liang, & He, 2020). Unplanned events may occur during the implementation of the system, which interferes with normal schedules and timeframes. Proper strategic planning helps in the prediction of unplanned events to avoid interference with the system. An extra budget should be put aside for dealing with extra needs such as infrastructure that may arise. Enough money should also be allocated for the maintenance of the system.

Uses of Health Care Data

Healthcare data has a lot of uses both in the organization and outside the healthcare organization. One of the uses of the data is to keep patients healthy. The data reports specific patient activities and trends, which provide important information to nurses and physicians. The data is used by healthcare professionals to develop wellness programs leading to quality care (Wang et al., 2020). The other use of healthcare data is to expand diagnostic services. The data is used to make accurate medical diagnoses through comparison and advice to patients on their medical conditions. It is possible to accurately diagnose conditions such as COPD with healthcare data. Healthcare data is also used to ensure patient safety by reducing medical errors. Healthcare data that is accurate and stored well also reduces healthcare costs (Wang et al., 2020). The data also helps the government to come up with better policies, such as insurance policies.

Issues Associated With the Use of Healthcare Data

There are various issues associated with the use of healthcare data. One of the issues is the problem of aggregating data. Pulling all data together i