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Week 6: Managing Resources to Promote Quality and Safety, Part 1

Introduction

Health care organizations must effectively manage resources as they strive to improve quality and safety.

This week, you will consider the business case for quality, including financial and other tradeoffs involved in decision making. Economic and financial management principles provide the foundation as you consider options for addressing quality challenges encountered in today’s health care organizations.

You will also examine how health informatics can contribute toward the achievement of quality and safety goals. You will investigate current trends, including the use of Computerized Physician/Provider Order Entry (CPOE) systems and the Electronic Health Record (EHR). As part of this exploration, you will consider how to determine return on investment and assess unintended consequences that may result from the implementation of technology.

Application: The Use of Health Information Technology to Improve Quality and Increase Safety

Health information technology can be a powerful tool for improving the quality of health care delivery. Yet, the transition to implementation can be expensive and challenging, and it can sometimes be difficult to demonstrate the return on investment.

To prepare for this Application:

• Identify a specific challenge related to quality and safety. (This may be the same challenge you selected for this week’s Discussion or a different one.)
• Investigate how health information technology could be used to address this challenge. Review the information presented in this week’s Learning Resources, and conduct additional research of your own using the Walden library and credible Web sites. Then, narrow your focus to one type of technology that would be highly beneficial for addressing this challenge.
• Consider the potential outcomes associated with implementing this technology.

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• What stakeholder concerns might arise?
• How would it potentially decrease (or would it possibly increase) systems errors and/or errors related to human factors?
• How could the return on investment be determined?

The Assignment

Write a 1- to 2-page paper that addresses the following:

• Identify a specific challenge related to quality and safety.  
  
• Explain how health information technology could be used to address this challenge. (Make your response as specific as possible.)
• Evaluate possible outcomes of the implementation of this technology.

You can use these websites or ones of your choice it has to be scholarly articles

http://www.commonwealthfund.org/~/media/Files/Publications/Issue%20Brief/2012/Jul/1608_SilowCarroll_using_EHRs_improve_quality.pdf

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2995716/

http://www.hrsa.gov/healthit/toolbox/Childrenstoolbox/DevelopingPediatricEHRs/roifromehr.html

http://healthit.ahrq.gov/ahrq-funded-projects/emerging-lessons/computerized-provider-order-entry-inpatient/inpatient-computerized-provider-order-entry-cpoe

http://healthit.ahrq.gov/ahrq-funded-projects/ambulatory-safety-and-quality-program

http://healthit.ahrq.gov/sites/default/files/docs/page/findings-and-lessons-from-the-improving-quality-through-clinician-use-of-healt