Competency B

In this section, I submit two examples that demonstrate my understanding of Competency B: the two examples include my INFM 206 culminating project presentation, which is based on a hypothetical data and records management program plan at Genex Services, and a briefing assignment for INFM 210, which features an evaluation of an open source Electronic Health Records System (EHR) called OpenMRS. As mentioned in the previous sections, Competency B is centered around electronic records programs and applications, it is particularly focused on the methodology behind the creation of these programs and applications (e.g. develop, evaluate, and manage) and integrating this into a specific organizational context. Both of the assignments from INFM 206 and 210 are focused towards electronic records in the healthcare industry, which fulfills the specific organizational context found in Competency B. Additionally, both examples exhibit aspects of Competency B like discussing the methodology that is used to create electronic records programs and applications.

 

In my first example, the INFM 206 culminating project presentation, I demonstrated Competency B by creating a data and records management plan for Genex Services. As for some context about the organization, Genex Services works in the healthcare industry and provides services, like managed care, for workers compensation. The audience of the presentation that I was aiming to reach was Genex’s upper management, so my focus here was to explain concepts, such as the importance of a data management and records program and the process of how to put the program together at a high-level. In the initial part of the presentation, I highlighted the importance and reasons why Genex should implement a data management and records program. After discussing the reasoning behind the program implementation, I elaborated on the different steps Genex needs to take in order to put the program in place by illustrating what needs to be done in each piece of the data management cycle (e.g. plan, design and enable, create/obtain, store/maintain, use, enhance, and dispose of). This portion of the project corresponds to Competency B by discussing the requirements needed to effectively develop an electronic records program and tailor it to a specific industry. The next steps I took in my presentation, following my discussion around program implementation, was to talk about some of the potential issues that users could face during implementation with potential solutions and the long term maintenance plan for the program. Similar to the information examined in the section pertaining to steps for program implementation, the sections around possible implementation issues and long-term maintenance are consistent to the electronic records program and application evaluation and management components of Competency B.

 

In my second example, I introduce my INFM 210 briefing assignment where I evaluated an Electronic Health Records System (EHR) called OpenMRS.  In this assignment, I analyzed the OpenMRS EHR from the perspective of a healthcare organization looking to find software used to store patient medical records. An EHR, according to HealthIT.gov (2019), is “a digital version of a patient’s paper chart…. an EHR system is built to go beyond standard clinical data collected in a provider’s office and can be inclusive of a broader view of a patient’s care” (para. 1). EHRs are designed to “[c]ontain a patient’s medical history, diagnoses, medications, treatment plans, immunization dates, allergies, radiology images, and laboratory and test results,” help automate processes with tools to aid clinicians in medical decision making, and are created with information exchange in mind so the records can be appropriately shared with other authorized medical providers or entities involved in the patient’s care (HealthIT.gov, 2019, para. 2 & 3).

 

While it’s true that healthcare organizations used physical records to store patient charts for many decades, nowadays EHR usage is pretty much universal across the industry, in the United States, following The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act. The decision to choose a particular EHR system is a big step for healthcare organizations in their overall plans to improve their electronic records programs in accordance with industry standards. In this assignment, I assessed the pros and cons of using OpenMRS, based on my experiences testing out the software and examining it based on organizational needs.

 

In the first part of the assignment, I discussed my overall impressions that pertain to the user interface and usability of OpenMRS to see if it would be intuitive for use for end users like clinicians. In the second part, I weighed out the pros and cons of OpenMRS by analyzing its features and saw if it meets my organizations business needs. In the last part of the assignment, I investigated OpenMRS to see if it meets the criteria for Meaningful Use as defined by the HITECH act, in order for the EHR system to be useable by the organization, it needed to meet the key criteria. Throughout these three sections in my review, I discovered that OpenMRS offered many benefits like being intuitive and affordable to use, but I discovered that it was not compliant to industry standards in the U.S. (e.g. not HIPAA compliant and did not meet certain critical key criteria in Meaningful Use out-of-the-box). This assignment helped me demonstrate Competency B in practice because, it helped me to focus in on considering the design and evaluate aspects that are needed to create useful electronic records programs and applications in a particular organizational setting (e.g. deciding on and implementing an EHR system in an organization operating in healthcare industry).