Communication and Network Technologies

Trends and Challenges in Health Information Exchange 

Health information exchange is increasingly becoming a critical aspect in most health care facilities across the world. Most hospitals are moving towards use of electronic health records. Health information exchange has the ability to aid the transition of care, improve patient health as well as reduce duplication. There are major trends which have marked the era of health information exchange. One of the trends is the growth of the Nation-wide health information network ( Staff, 2018) . The network is a secure way of exchanging electronic information on the health of patients. The use of this network is gaining popularity in most of the major hospitals in the United States. 

The adoption of the connected healthcare solutions is another trend in the health information exchange. The system has been used in coordinating transitions of care by connecting various healthcare solutions. The coordination has aided nurses in sharing critical information on the health of patients. Additionally, the communication support has played a major role in improving patient care as well as cost reduction ( Staff, 2018) . Access to test results as way of cutting down costs is another trend in health information exchange. Hospitals have also been able to reduce instances of duplicating results because they are shared among all the caregivers. 

Challenges 

However, the adoption of health information exchange has had its challenges. For instance, maintaining privacy will be a big challenge with the adoption of health information exchange systems. Patients’ data may be accessible to third parties like hackers. For the system to be trusted by the providers and patients, the organization must have good policies. The other challenge lies in the case of integrating and reconciling discrete information. Information regarding prescription and immunizations received by a certain patient must be available whenever needed ( Staff, 2018) . The health information exchange system may not guarantee this availability. 

The cost of exchanging information may prove to be costly to the organization. The per-transaction fee for exchanging information may be too high for the organization to cater for. Additionally, the cost of installing and managing the intranets within the organization will also be high. Hence, the cost factor will be a challenge in managing health information exchange in the facility. 

Intranet 

Once an intranet is developed in an organization/hospital, there are functions it will be expected to serve. One of the purposes of the intranet will be aiding internal communication as well as supporting the organization culture. In the hospital setting, care givers will be able to exchange updated information via the system. Information regarding a patient’s health history will be exchanged easily especially in case of a readmission. The system will also allow customization and flexibility which is an essential function. The system will be able to be adjusted to fit the needs of the organization rather than sticking to a fixed template. The intranet software should be flexible because different departments within the organization may have different needs. 

Intranets and Internet 

With access to intranet within the organization, internet will not be required. Intranet is capable of serving similar purposes to internet. Some of the functions the intranet will perform within a healthy care facility include improving communication, managing documents, and ensuring efficiency in operations. Intranets, unlike internets, are usually closed networks in that they will serve a specific organization. In most cases, intranets are limited are limited to a given group who share a common purpose. The rest of the world cannot access the information shared by this group. Intranet will allow the user to use its features in searching information and socializing with other users within the organization. 

How Intranet will serve the Facility 

The intranet will ensure patient safety and quality care in the facility. With access to timely and up to date patient information, the facility practitioners will be able to provide quality care. Additionally, the professionals will be able to share information easily especially when handling patients in critical condition. Working as a team will ensure that quality care is provided to the clients ( Williams, 2018) . Additionally, exchange of information will ensure that the organization operates efficiently. The facility professionals will be able to give good prescriptions to patients because information will be readily available. 

There are challenges expected to be faced in future by any organization which installs these systems. For instance, with the ever changing technology, the system will be outdated after sometime and this will prove costly. Additionally, the system may fail at any given time and this will affect the operations of the organization. Most intranets are also prone to attack by hackers and this will lead to loss of patient information to third parties ( Williams, 2018) . Employees may also access unauthorized information and this will compromise the privacy of the patient information. Some controls like installing strong passwords and fire walls will make the system more secure. The other control which will make the system more secure is encrypting the connection with Wi-Fi protected access (WPA). The connection will ensure that the systemis not prone to hacking. 

Policy for Employees to avoid Misuse of the Technology 

Employees should ensure that the intranet and internet provided is used for the intended purpose within the care facility. The internet and intranet should be used in a productive manner that will benefit the organization. Additionally, any passwords provided should be kept private and not given to outsiders who many compromise the privacy of the organization’s information. Transferring or retrieving information which is offensive, x-rated or obscene within the system is illegal ( Abdekhoda et al., 2014) . All these policies will be important to ensure that the systems privacy is not violated and it serves the intended purpose. 

References 

Abdekhoda, M., Ahmadi, M., Dehnad, A., & Hosseini, A. F. (2014). Information technology acceptance in health information management. Methods of information in medicine , 53 (01), 14-20. 

Staff, A. (2018). The Future of Healthcare Data Exchange | Journal of AHIMA. Retrieved from http://journal.ahima.org/2018/09/01/the-future-of-healthcare-data-exchange/ 

Williams, M. S. (2018). Perceptions Among Women on Education for Health Information Management Career Advancement.