HEALTHCARE ECOSYSTEMS
Competency 730.1.3: Licensure, Certification, and Accreditation Standards – The graduate analyzes how licensing, certification, and accreditation agencies for healthcare organizations impact healthcare delivery at federal, state, local, and organizational levels.
Competency 730.1.4: Quality, Reimbursement, and Patient Access to Healthcare – The graduate analyzes how relationships between clinical healthcare quality, reimbursement for services, and patient access to medical care influence the services that are provided at various levels of healthcare organizations.
Competency 730.1.5: Federal Healthcare Legislation and Programs – The graduate analyzes how federal legislation and programs influence the provision of services at all levels of healthcare organizations.
Introduction:
The healthcare ecosystem is influenced by external forces in the form of government regulations, accreditation standards, and federal legislation. These regulations and legislation are components of federal government programs and bring with them directives that may impact the economics of healthcare.
The federal government established a goal of developing the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN) through the use of health information exchanges and regional health information organizations. Using information technology, healthcare organizations will be linked across the nation.
The seamless exchange of health information may provide healthcare consumers with a higher quality of care, improvement in patient access, and more efficient control of the cost of healthcare services. The healthcare ecosystem is one of continual change.
Task:
A. Analyze three issues or elements involved in current government programs, legislation, or initiatives related to health informatics by doing the following:
1. Evaluate how each issue or element is impacted by licensure, certification, or accreditation standards.
2. Predict how each issue or element will impact the following:
a. Clinical quality
b. Reimbursement
c. Patient access
3. Explain how each of the three issues or elements supports the NHIN.
B. Evaluate the roles of health informatics professionals in operationalizing each of your selected issues or elements by doing the following:
1. Discuss the roles health informatics professionals have performed in each of these issues or elements.
2. Analyze how each issue or element may impact the health informatics workforce.
C. When you use sources, include all in-text citations and references in APA format.