In your own words, compare and contrast the various types of Healthcare informat
ID: 428116 • Letter: I
Question
In your own words, compare and contrast the various types of Healthcare information. Describe how each are used. Discuss the necessity of aggregating (combining) clinical and financial information to manage healthcare organizations. Why is external information used to assist these organizations? In 250 words.
From the below book:
Karen A. Wager, Frances Wickham Lee, and John P. Glaser. Health Care Information Systems: A Practical Approach for Health Care Management. 3rd Edition. Jossey-Bass, 2013.
Explanation / Answer
Q1) The various types of healthcare information with a healthcare provider include -
1. Patient biographic and demographic data which includes patient personal information like age, gender, profession etc. This can be used for the identification of patient and ease of associating future medical records.
2. Patient's basic health information like Blood Pressure, Blood group, weight etc. This can be used by understanding basic patient health profile before proceeding with diagnostic tests or treatments.
3. Patient specific health issues and treatment history which includes outpatient visits, inpatient admissions, diagnostic reports, prescriptions provided by doctor etc. This is the most important information which is used to understand the patient's past health condition, any treatment taken, improvement in health etc.
4. Payment or billing information related to the patient visits or treatments which include medical bills and receipts. This provides the financial information related to the patient treat to understand revenue generation per patient etc.
Q2) The necessity of aggregating clinical and financial information arises from understanding the business generated per patient, the medical condition of the patient based on which future treatments can be planned to deliver the care better, the resources to be planned for future treatments etc.
Q3) External information is used to assist these organizations as it provides a comparison for better future planning, it provides an in-depth analysis into the patient data based on which better and quality care can be delivered etc. External information is used more as a reference to analyze the patient health records.