Healthy Information Technology (HIT) is a system developed for managing information in health care organizations, both private and public, for health care workers and patients. The use of HIT applications brings several advantages, including enhanced quality of care given by patients by the health workers minimization of medical errors by using HIT applications to collect data accurately. Additionally, these systems help improve the speed and efficiency of operations within the health care organization, which ranges from managerial, treatment, follow-ups, and prescription by reducing the use of paperwork. Different health organizations use different HIT applications depending on the need and structure of the organization. This paper will discuss some HIT applications being used by the health care organization, their cost, vendors, effectiveness, and how they are improving.
The first application is the Electronic Medical Records system. This application is mostly used to manage the medical information about the patients, which includes a medical history and others. An example of such a system is the cureMD. CureMD is a product of CureMD Healthcare Corporation founded by Bill Hashmat. CureMD provides advanced features ranging from practice management, patient portal, and medical billing portals at an affordable cost. CureMD has an iPad app that helps manage patients’ appointments, clinical assessments, comments, and case histories. CureMD license is priced at 295 US Dollars for all users. The application is made to be used by patients and health care workers like doctors, nurses, and physicians. Its’ interface is easy to user-friendly, making it simple and enjoyable to use. The application needs no integration since it’s offered as software-as-a-service, saving users costs related to set-up, maintenance, and support. While utilized effectively, the application can allow for instant accessibility of patients’ records, increasing efficiency in serving the patient. Additionally, it reduces medical errors due to the improvement of patient care quality by sharing the patients’ records to all departments in the health center.
The second application is the E-Prescribing Software. Doctors use this software to make prescriptions automatically using the system. The doctor then sends the prescription to the pharmacist without writing it down. An example of this software is the DrFirst. James Chen founded it. It provides advanced features that help the doctors make medication decisions electronically using predictive features; it also allows the patient to choose between options of prescriptions depending on the preference and affordance. DrFirst can be easily integrated into desktops and phones. Its’ interface is user-friendly, and there is guaranteed customer support 24/7. When utilized effectively, the application reduces the chances of prescription mix-up and misplacement hence ensuring patient safety.
The third HIT application is the Urgent Care Applications. This application keeps tabs on patients who might need instant aid hence helping them to avoid long queues. An example of such an application is HealthTap. It is an application that provides a platform for doctors to virtually provide medical services to patients. These services can include disease diagnosis, medicine prescription, ordering of lab tests, and recommendation of transfers. The application provides 24/7 access to privately and securely stored health records. The owner of this application is Bill Gossman. The application costs 15 US Dollars per month, and it is readily available to users online both on websites and apps. HealthTap is very effective because it provides medical help to users around the clock(Muench et al., 2012).
References
Goldzweig, C. L., Towfigh, A., Maglione, M., & Shekelle, P. G. (2009). Costs And Benefits Of Health Information Technology: New Trends From The Literature: Since 2005, patient-focused applications have proliferated, but data on their costs and benefits remain sparse. Health Affairs, 28(Suppl2), w282-w293.
Rodrigues, J. J. (Ed.). (2009). Health information systems: concepts, methodologies, tools, and applications: concepts, methodologies, tools, and applications (Vol. 1). Igi Global.
Aguilera, A., & Muench, F. (2012). There’s an app for that: Information technology applications for cognitive behavioral practitioners. The Behavior therapist/AABT, 35(4), 65.
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