Exploring the role of health managers in implementing health it solutions and meeting meaningful use standards - dissertation example

Exploring the Role of Health Managers in Implementing Health IT Solutions and Meeting Meaningful Use Standards

Exploring the Role of Health Managers in Implementing Health IT Solutions and Meeting Meaningful Use Standards
It has become imperative that skills in health information technology are required in the healthcare sector. The adoption of the Meaningful Use objectives falls into three distinctive stages. Stage 3 is the most significant part because it centers on the implementation of the new standards (“ CMS, ONC release proposed Stage 3 Meaningful Use rules”, 2015). Specifically, stage three is presumed to begin in 2016 and has eight distinct goals that will determine its success. Notably, hospitals and eligible professionals will not have an easy time in accomplishing the eight goals and the explicit objectives under each goal. For this reason, it is expected that healthcare professionals are likely to face particular hurdles when implementing the goals. There is a salient need for healthcare professionals to develop exceptional competencies to surmount the obstacles and difficulties that they are likely to face. Specifically, healthcare managers who have the obligation of leading their organization to the implementation of stage three will require excellent managerial competencies, as this paper will highlight.
Healthcare managers will encounter obstacles when implementing the coordination of care through patient engagement, which is one of the stage three goals. If the healthcare organization is to accomplish this goal successfully, patients should play a significant role in evaluating their health records and generating their data enhancing the available health records. Patients should also engage in a secure exchange of healthcare information with various providers. It will be difficult to ensure that patients are actively involved in these activities. For this reason, healthcare managers need to manifest exceptional managerial competencies of putting in place a remarkable patient portal that will promote the achievement of this goal (Joseph, 2013). Additionally, healthcare managers will face difficulties with the achievement of health information exchange. Notably, the accomplishment of this goal will demand both the provider and the healthcare ecosystem to assume absolute standards. It is challenging to ensure that there is the expected level of control of the healthcare ecosystem. There was a poor implementation of the stage two adoptions of the required standards concerning the exchange of provider directories. For this reason, it will be difficult to achieve this goal.
Healthcare managers will also face difficulties when implementing the public health and clinical data registry reporting. Experts have affirmed that there are likely to be both ecosystem and expense challenges because of the distinct measures that must be met in the achievement of this goal. Many state registries lack the technological and financial capacity required for the implementation of Meaningful Use stage three (Baum & Dowling, 2012). Without doubt, the lack of automation in state registries will translate to rising costs for various providers. Healthcare managers of different organizations should generate efficient strategies if they are to overcome these barriers.
Healthcare managers of different organizations will need to utilize strategic managerial competencies so that they can successfully implement the Meaningful Use stage three. As highlighted above, the healthcare managers will need to develop a striking patient portal that will boost patient engagement. Additionally, the healthcare managers will need to set up frameworks that allow all the eligible providers to adopt a sophisticated level of electronic health records (Adler-Milstein, Bates, & Jha, 2011). Furthermore, healthcare managers will need to control specific features of the healthcare ecosystem if all the goals are to be met successfully. It is also essential for healthcare managers to develop a strategic plan for the implementation of all the goals with an appropriate budget. Without doubt, healthcare managers will need to work jointly with the eligible providers and effective communication skills will help them get all the eligible providers organized.
References
Adler-Milstein, J., Bates, D. W., & Jha, A. K. (2011). A Survey of Health Information Exchange Organizations in the United States: Implications for Meaningful Use. Annals of Internal Medicine, 154(10), 666.
Baum, N. H., & Dowling, R. A. (2012). ‘Meaningful use’: How to achieve it in your practice. Urology Times, 40(2), 40-42.
CMS, ONC release proposed Stage 3 Meaningful Use rules. (2015). AHA News, 51(7), 3.
Joseph, A. M. (2013). The Stage 3 Meaningful Use preliminary recommendations. MLO: Medical Laboratory Observer, 45(7), 64.