Electronic Medical Records: Electronic Medical Records, Essay Example

The case of Happy Health Systems (HHS) provides multiple IT discrepancies between the three main sectors of the organization.  Through the acquisition of previously-owned hospitals and clinics, HHS has grown substantially and many of these buildings contain their own IT design capabilities.  External physicians have their own practice but are contracted by HHS.  Each physician’s office has its own IT design capabilities, and none of them are capable of unifying in any manner.  Likewise, the research facilities have their own specific IT design, which makes it difficult to unify when considering the problems of training personnel for new software and eliminating the potential for research, even if only for a limited period of time.

The unification design model has been chosen for HHS to create a universal IT design for the hospitals and clinics.  However, based on the variations of IT and the capabilities of each physician’s office and research facility, a coordination design model has been chosen to ensure that each area is able to work with one another without hindering the sharing of information or the work that each is responsible for completing.  To satisfy these models, we must first create an enterprise architecture to examine the needs of each area of HHS and how they can be satisfied, if only in part, by the proposed models.

The unification design would ensure that all hospitals and clinics are operating under the same IT model.  Upgrades to software and hardware may be necessary in some of the buildings.  The buildings must be upgraded to high speed internet and have universal email with an encryption on the network that will prevent viruses.  The encryption will also come in handy to ensure confidentiality for the unified organization of technological medical records that is necessary in each of the buildings, which can be accessed from any of the buildings as long as the medical professional has access to the overall network.

On the other hand, the coordinating model is decided upon to ensure that physicians and research personnel have the best IT technology for their work within HHS.  A central IT building will be designed to provide immediate support should any problems arise at any of the offices or HHS locations.  A training program will be offered to help educate medical staff on new IT software and processes that will make such activities like record keeping, billing, and appointment-setting a routine automatic process.  By ensuring that staff members do not need to worry about these problems, it helps provide more freedom in their day to do the work they need to do which is healing the sick or injured, or researching new techniques or drugs.

References

Motola, P. (2006). Successful EA Management Principles [Electronic version].

Architecture and Governance, 2(3). Retrieved Aug. 3, 2007, from http://www.architectureandgovernance.com/articles/06-motola.asp

Ross, J.W., Weill, P., & Robertson, D.C. (2006). Enterprise architecture as strategy: Creating a foundation for business execution. Boston: Harvard Business School Press.