HIM 500 Final Project Guidelines and RubricOverview
Practitioners in health information management and healthcare informatics are expected to be keenly aware of new and upcoming technologies that might benefit their organization. This becomes more complex as these individuals must also consider the impact that those technologies might have on the practice of medicine at their institution. When faced with new technologies, leaders in health information management must evaluate the state of the organization and make an informed decision that will affect the organization as a whole. This means addressing not just the needs of the health information management team, but the needs of all roles within the institution, while also addressing any issues of compliance the organization might be facing.
For your final project in this course, you will imagine you have been hired as a contractor for a small medical facility to consult on the selection of a new technology. Their organization has been struggling, so you must first speak to the state of the organization and then offer an informed recommendation as to which of the technologies would suit the organization best. The project is divided into three milestones, which will be submitted at various points throughout the course to scaffold learning and ensure quality final submissions. These milestones will be submitted in Modules Three, Five and Seven. The final product will be submitted in Module Nine.
In this assignment, you will demonstrate your mastery of the following course outcomes:
- Determine standard technology systems and their uses in modern healthcare institutions through analysis of current and historical technology use in health information management and healthcare informatics
- Analyze the interrelationship between various professional roles within healthcare institutions and their use of technology systems for informing recommendations regarding health information technology systems
- Determine the potential impact of violating health regulations and laws regarding health information technology systems on healthcare organizations
- Develop health information technology recommendations for healthcare institutions that are compliant with health regulations and laws and ensure ethical management of health information
- Determine effective investment of resources in health information technology for healthcare institutions based on the needs of the healthcare institution
Prompt
Imagine you have been contracted to consult on the recent developments at the Featherfall Medical Center. Featherfall has been struggling of late; it has had a series of problems that have prompted your hiring. It has faced the following issues:
- Featherfall has recently violated several government regulations regarding the current state of its technology and how it is being used. The technology system is vastly out of date, and staff are not always using the technology that is in place or they are using the technology inappropriately. These problems have lost the institution lots of money for not meeting government regulations and have caused operational and ethical problems from inefficient and ineffective use of technology.
- The staff at Featherfall are not well-trained on the use of technology and do not communicate appropriately about technology use. The roles that pertinent to your consult are the health information management team, the clinical staff (doctors, nurses, etc.), and administrative staff. The health information management team uses proper coding practices, and the current technology system serves them well, despite its age. However, other roles in the hospital have had issues with the system. Clinical staff, for instance, have had record-keeping issues both due to lack of training on the system and the system itself being out of date. Administrative staff within the organization have taken issue with the lack of communication about the technology and its use between the various roles. When the current technology system was chosen many years ago, the needs of these various roles were not considered.
You will begin by preparing for your consultation. You will analyze the history of the field as well as determine standard guidelines for technology use and standard technologies used in the field. You will also prepare information for Feather fall regarding the ramifications for violating health laws and regulations. Finally, you will use this information to review technology options that could be implemented at the institution.
Specifically, the following critical elements must be addressed:
- Preparation for Consult: In this section of your final project, you will prepare for your consultation on the organization’s technology choice. To prepare, you will analyze the field of health information management for determining standard technologies and guidelines related to technology use in order to inform your technology selection.
- Analyze key historical events in the field of health informatics for how technology has been used that could inform the management of health information. Be sure to support your response with appropriate examples.
- Determine guidelines for technology use in the field of health information management that Featherfall could implement. Be sure to support your response with research.
- Determine the standard technologies currently used in the field of health information management. Be sure to support your response with research. For example, what record-keeping technologies are typically used in the field?
- Develop an overview of how the pertinent roles described at Feather fall would interact with technology.
- Describe the process you would use to evaluate new health information technology systems. Be sure that your process will evaluate new systems based on how they meet the needs of the organization and how they are compliant with health regulations and laws.
- Health Regulations and Laws Ramifications: In this section of your final project, you will finish your preparation by reviewing and explaining the ramifications for the organization if it decides to wait on addressing its recent violations regarding technology use.
- Determine how violating health regulations and laws regarding technology could impact the finances of the institution if these violations are not addressed. Be sure to support your response with examples.
- Determine how violating health regulations and laws regarding technology could impact the daily operations of the institution if these violations are not addressed. Be sure to support your response with examples.
- Determine how violating health regulations and laws regarding technology could impact the security of the health information in the institution if these violations are not addressed. Be sure to support your response with examples.
- Technology System Recommendations: In this final section of your final project, you will review the provided technology options and make informed recommendations to the organization regarding which technology it should choose.
- Determine the needs of the various roles of the organization in a new technology.
- Recommend a new health information technology system that meets the following criteria. Be sure to justify how your recommendations meet the criteria. The new health technology must:
- Abide by provided health regulations and laws
- Align with the needs of all staff members of the previously described organization
- Ensure the ethical management and use of health information
- Determine how the organization could more effectively invest its financial resources into the recommended technology system. Be sure to justify your response.
- Determine how the organization could monitor the use of the new health information system. Be sure to justify your response.
- Determine how the organization could effectively invest its time into the implementation of the new health information technology system. Be sure to justify your response.
Health Information Technology Recommendations It should be a complete, polished artifact containing all of the critical elements of the final product. It should reflect the incorporation of feedback gained throughout the course. This submission will be graded with theProject Rubric.
What to Submit
Your health information technology recommendations should be 6–8 pages in length (plus a cover page and references) and must be written in APA format. Use double-spacing, 12-point Times New Roman font, and one-inch margins. All references cited in APA format.
Final Project RubricCriteriaExceeds Expectations (100%)Meets Expectations (90%)Partially Meets Expectations (70%)Does Not Meet Expectations (0%)ValuePreparation for Consult: Key Historical EventsExceeds expectations and examples used demonstrate a sophisticated awareness for how the history of health informatics can inform the management of health informationAnalyzes key historical events in the field of health informatics for how technology has been used historically that could inform the management of health information, supporting response with appropriate examplesAnalyzes key historical events in the field of health informatics for how technology has been used historically that could inform the management of health information, supporting response with examples, but analysis is cursory or illogical or examples are inappropriateDoes not analyze key historical events in the field of health informatics6.2Preparation for Consult: GuidelinesExceeds expectations and research provided demonstrates a sophisticated awareness of the standards for technology use in the field of health information managementDetermines guidelines for technology use in the field of health information management that Featherfall could implement, supporting response with researchDetermines guidelines for technology use in the field of health information management that Featherfall could implement, supporting response with research, but determined guidelines are inappropriate, or supporting research is misalignedDoes not determine guidelines for technology use in the field of health information management6.2Preparation for Consult: Standard TechnologiesExceeds expectations and demonstrates a comprehensive awareness of the standard technologies used in the modern field of health information managementDetermines the standard technologies currently used in the field of health information management, supporting response with researchDetermines technologies used in the field of health information management, supporting response with research, but determined technologies are not standard currently in the field, or supporting research is misalignedDoes not determine technologies used in the field of health information management6.2Preparation for Consult: RolesExceeds expectations and demonstrates keen insight into the interrelationship between the various roles at the healthcare organizationDevelops an overview of how the various roles at the healthcare institution interact with technology and the health information management teamDevelops an overview of how the roles at the healthcare institution interact with technology and the health information management team, but overview is cursoryDoes not develop an overview of how the roles at the healthcare institution interact with technology and the health information management team6.2Preparation for Consult: EvaluateExceeds expectations and demonstrates a sophisticated evaluation process for health information technologiesDescribes the process that would be used to evaluate new health information technology systems for the institution that meet the needs of the organization and how they are compliant with health regulations and lawsDescribes the process that would be used to evaluate new health information technology systems for the institution, but description is cursory or misaligned with the needs of the organization or health laws and regulationsDoes not describe the process that would be used to evaluate new health information technology systems for the institution6.2Health Regulations and Laws Ramifications: FinancesExceeds expectations and demonstrates a nuanced appreciation of the potential financial ramifications of regulatory violations on healthcare institutionsDetermines how violating health regulations and laws regarding technology might impact the finances of the institution if these violations are not addressed, supporting response with examplesDetermines how violating health regulations and laws regarding technology might impact the finances of the institution if these violations are not addressed, supporting response with examples, but explanation is cursory or illogical, or supporting examples are misalignedDoes not determine how violating health regulations and laws regarding technology might impact the finances of the institution if these violations are not addressed6.2Health Regulations and Laws Ramifications: Daily OperationsExceeds expectations and demonstrates a nuanced appreciation of the potential operational ramifications of regulatory violations on healthcare institutionsDetermines how violating health regulations and laws regarding technology might impact the daily operations of the institution if these violations are not addressed, supporting response with examplesDetermines how violating health regulations and laws regarding technology might impact the daily operations of the institution if these violations are not addressed, supporting response with examples but explanation is cursory or illogical, or supporting examples are misalignedDoes not determine how violating health regulations and laws regarding technology might impact the daily operations of the institution if these violations are not addressed6.2Health Regulations and Laws Ramifications: SecurityExceeds expectations and demonstrates a nuanced appreciation of how regulatory violations might impact the security of health informationDetermines how violating health regulations and laws regarding technology might impact the security of the health information in the institution if these violations are not addressed, supporting response with examplesDetermines how violating health regulations and laws regarding technology might impact the security of the health information in the institution if these violations are not addressed, supporting response with examples, but explanation is cursory or illogical, or supporting examples are misalignedDoes not determine how violating health regulations and laws regarding technology might impact the security of the health information in the institution if these violations are not addressed6.2Technology System Recommendations: NeedsExceeds expectations and demonstrates keen insight into the potential needs of various roles within the healthcare organizationDetermines the needs of the various roles of the organization in a new technologyDetermines the needs of the various roles of the organization in a new technology, but determination is cursoryDoes not determine the needs of the various roles of the organization in a new technology6.2Technology System Recommendations: Regulations and LawsExceeds expectations and justification demonstrates a nuanced understanding of how to best abide by the provided health regulations and lawsRecommends a new health information technology that abides by the provided health regulations and laws, justifying responseRecommends new health information technology that abides by health regulations and laws, but recommendations are cursory or not justifiedDoes not recommend and justify new health information technology that abides by health regulations and laws that the institution is currently not in compliance with6.2Technology System Recommendations: StaffExceeds expectations and justification demonstrates a nuanced appreciation of how technologies can meet the needs of the various staff at the healthcare organizationRecommends a new health information technology that aligns with the needs of all staff members of the organization, justifying responseRecommends a new health information technology that aligns with the needs of all staff members of the organization, but recommendations are cursory or not justifiedDoes not recommend and justify a new health information technology that aligns with the needs of all staff members of the organization6.2Technology System Recommendations: EthicalExceeds expectations and justification demonstrates a nuanced appreciation of how technologies can ensure the ethical management of health informationRecommends a new health information technology that ensures ethical management and use of health information, justifying responseRecommends a new health information technology that ensures ethical management and use of health information, but recommendations are cursory or not justifiedDoes not recommend and justify a new health information technology that ensures ethical management and use of health information6.2Technology System Recommendations: Financial ResourcesExceeds expectations and demonstrates keen insight into various ways the organization can financially invest in the technology systemDetermines how the organization could more effectively invest financial resources into the recommended technology system, justifying responseDetermines how the organization could more effectively invest financial resources into the recommended technology system, but determination is cursory, illogical, or not justifiedDoes not determine how the organization could more effectively invest financial resources into the recommended technology system6.2Technology System Recommendations: MonitorExceeds expectations and demonstrates keen insight into various ways the organization can monitor the use of the technology systemDetermines how the organization could monitor the use of the new health information system, justifying responseDetermines how the organization could monitor the use of the new health information system, but determination is cursory, illogical, or not justifiedDoes not determine how the organization could monitor the use of the new health information system6.2Technology System Recommendations: TimeExceeds expectations and demonstrates keen insight into various ways the organization can invest time into the implementation of the technology systemDetermines how the organization could effectively invest time into the implementation of the new health information technology system, justifying responseDetermines how the organization could effectively invest time into the implementation of the new health information technology system, but determination is cursory, illogical, or not justifiedDoes not determine how the organization could effectively invest time into the implementation of the new health information technology system6.2Clear CommunicationExceeds expectations with an intentional use of language that promotes a thorough understandingConsistently and effectively communicates in an organized way to a specific audienceShows progress toward meeting expectations, but communication is inconsistent or ineffective in a way that negatively impacts understandingShows no evidence of consistent, effective, or organized communication7
