Health Information Technology

Health information technology (HIT) is in general increasingly viewed as the most promising tool for improving the overall quality, safety and efficiency of the health delivery system.[1] Broad and consistent utilization of HIT will:

  • Improve health care quality or effectiveness;
  • Increase health care productivity or efficiency;
  • Prevent medical errors and increase health care accuracy and procedural correctness;
  • Reduce health care costs;
  • Increase administrative efficiencies and healthcare work processes;
  • Decrease paperwork and unproductive or idle work time;
  • Extend real-time communications of health informatics among health care professionals; and
  • Expand access to affordable care.

Health information technology (HIT) is in general increasingly viewed as the most promising tool for improving the overall quality, safety and efficiency of the health delivery system.[1] Broad and consistent utilization of HIT will:

  • Improve health care quality or effectiveness;
  • Increase health care productivity or efficiency;
  • Prevent medical errors and increase health care accuracy and procedural correctness;
  • Reduce health care costs;
  • Increase administrative efficiencies and healthcare work processes;
  • Decrease paperwork and unproductive or idle work time;
  • Extend real-time communications of health informatics among health care professionals; and
  • Expand access to affordable care.

Interoperable HIT will improve individual patient care, but it will also bring many public health benefits including:

  • Early detection of infectious disease outbreaks around the country;
  • Improved tracking of chronic disease management; and
  • Evaluation of health care based on value enabled by the collection of de-identified price and quality information that can be compared.

According to the article published by the Internal Journal of Medical Informatics,Health information sharing between patients and providers helps to improve diagnosis, promotes self care, and patients also know more information about their health. The use of electronic medical records (EMRs) is still scarce now but is increasing in Canada, American and British primary care. Healthcare information in EMRs are important sources for clinical, research, and policy questions. Health information privacy (HIP) and security has been a big concern for patients and providers. Studies in Europe evaluating electronic health information poses a threat to electronic medical records and exchange of personal information.

Health information technology – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Health information technology (HIT) is “the application of information processing involving both computer hardware and software that deals with the storage, retrieval, sharing, and use of health care information, data, and knowledge for communication and decision making” Technology is a broad concept that deals with a species’ usage and knowledge of tools and crafts, and how it affects a species’ ability to control and adapt to its environment. However, a strict definition is elusive; “technology” can refer to material objects of use to humanity, such as machines, hardware or utensils, but can also encompass broader themes, including systems, methods of organization, and techniques. For HIT, technology represents computers and communications attributes that can be networked to build systems for moving health information. Informatics is yet another integral aspect of HIT.

Informatics refers to the science of information, the practice of information processing, and the engineering of information systems. Informatics underlies the academic investigation and practitioner application of computing and communications technology to healthcare, health education, and biomedical research. Health informatics refers to the intersection of information science, computer science, and health care. Health informatics describes the use and sharing of information within the healthcare industry with contributions from computer science, mathematics, and psychology. It deals with the resources, devices, and methods required for optimizing the acquisition, storage, retrieval, and use of information in health and biomedicine. Health informatics tools include not only computers but also clinical guidelines, formal medical terminologies, and information and communication systems. Medical informatics, nursing informatics, public health informatics, pharmacy informatics, and translational bioinformatics are subdisciplines that inform health informatics from different disciplinary perspectives. The processes and people of concern or study are the main variables.

Health information technology (HIT) provides the umbrella framework to describe the comprehensive management of health information across computerized systems and its secure exchange between consumers, providers, government and quality entities, and insurers.

Reprinted from Wikipedia