Change Management in Health Informatics

• The RXBox stores and files data into a community health information system.
• There are generally four kinds of changes that all kinds of organizations might encounter, with the likelihood of overlap among the conceivable outcomes: Operational changes, Strategic changes, Cultural changes, and Political changes.
• Different sorts of changes typically have dissimilar impacts on different organizational levels.
• Employees working at the upper-levels might be indifferent as to the changes, which may cause significant distress to those attempting the implementation of change.
• The effect of the political changes is more strongly felt on the higher levels of the organization.
• When change occurs relatively in a bureaucratic organization, those working on the bottom level often notice the change at the top (Lorenzi & Riley, 2000).
• Organizational changes have varying degrees of impact on both the organization, and in effect, its clientele.
• Change Management in Health Informatics is increasingly becoming a course of action that health institutions avail of in order to improve their services.
• There are a wide range of change management process models to explore and consider, each with their own strategic approaches based on the expertise and experiences of their developers.
• Kurt Lewin’s three-step “Unfreeze - Change - Refreeze” model, proposed by the universally recognized founder of social psychology in the 1950s, is still highly relevant today and often used as the basis for many change management strategies.
• Proski’s ADKAR® Model, an acronym for a strategy that encompasses: “Awareness of the business reasons for change; Desire to engage and participate in the change; Knowledge about how to change, Ability to implement change, and Reinforcement to ensure change sticks”, is also commonly used in change management strategies.
• Kotter’s 8-Step Model of Change, developed by Harvard Business School’s John Kotter, focuses on efficient and effective change management in a competitive world.
• Change management is a series of tools, techniques and processes aimed at successfully effecting change.
• These tools and techniques can be implemented in a variety of contexts, but often they support the application of other initiatives such as Six Sigma, CRM, Total Quality Management or enterprise applications such as SAP.
• Downey (2008) describes common tools and techniques that a change management practitioner might use during a change initiative, which include: Questioning skills to gather information about the ‘as is’ and ‘to be’ status of the business process, Process mapping for both ‘as is’ and ‘to be’ processes, Gap analysis, Business case development, Project management, Problem solving, Requirements elicitation techniques, and Negotiation skills.
• It is crucial that progress of the change initiative can be quantified against the objectives set by the organization.
• For this to be successful, the organization needs to set clear objectives and settle on key performance indicators (KPIs) that can be used to track and evaluate the change initiative against its objectives.
• The Philippines has developed an e-Health Strategic Framework and Plan for 2014 to 2020, with the objective of utilizing information and communication technologies in the health sector to assist in the delivery of health services and manage health systems for greater efficacy, with the ultimate goal of providing universal healthcare for the Filipinos.
• RXBox has sensors that can measure a patient’s blood pressure, temperature, oxygen saturation rate, pulse rate, and even the electrocardiogram rate, and this information may all be sent to the specialist doctor via email or SMS, aiding in patient care.
• RXBox has features that enable teleconsultations via email, video call, or SMS.
• Medway Healthcare Inc. offers the most comprehensive set of telemedicine services, being the first medical clinic in the Philippines to mobilize its Pre-Employment Medical Examination (PEME) arm into the path of delivering interactive healthcare.
• Telemedicine in the Philippines is beneficial due to the rise of Telemedicine within the region, with multiple players in the Telemedicine scene including Medgate, Lifeline, MyPocketDoctor, MyDocNow, and Medway Healthcare Inc.
• Mobile App-based Telemedicine centers like MyPocketDoctor and MyDocNow are usually in partnership with other international telemedicine centers.
• The National Telehealth Center is the leading research unit in the University of the Philippines responsible for developing cost effective tools and innovations in the realm of information and communications technology (ICT) for improving health care.
• One of the strategic goals of the e-Health Strategic Framework is to establish unified and coherent health and management information systems, and to take advantage of ICT to reach and provide better health services and support the attainment of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
• The Department of Science & Technology (DOST) has begun distributing the breakthrough “RXBox” telemedicine device developed by engineers and researchers from University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman and UP Manila to 1,000 far-flung municipalities in the country, focusing on disadvantaged municipalities to benefit from having affordable health care in their respective communities.
• Tele Follow-up and Teleconsultation procedures offered by Medway Healthcare Inc. are accessible online and through a specially-designed computer program.
• The Department of Health (DOH) in Region 4B has launched the first interactive telemedicine system in Marinduque, providing medical consultations and diagnostics through video calls.
• These KPIs might include: Reducing rework by x%, Improvement in stakeholder satisfaction, for example, customer/employee surveys, Reduced time to market, Enhanced speed of delivery, and The return on investment, that is, the total cost to implement the initiative versus total savings gained from the initiative per period.
• Clear and frequent dissemination of information is a key success factor at the program level.
• Health Information Management (HIM) professionals, credentialed with their academic preparation, work experience, commitment to patient advocacy, and professional code of ethics, have a specialized skill set that uniquely qualifies them to assume the role both of privacy official and/or security officials who store, protect, and transmit information in all media and formats.
• Health Information Management professionals ensure confidential patient information is kept private, secure, and in accordance with federal and state laws.
• Monitoring and measuring key indicators, such as using a dashboard to report progress and benchmarks, is a crucial aspect of managing a project.
• Health Information Management professionals represent patients’ interest in matters of privacy and security, information release, and issues and guidelines regarding record access.
• Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia have started adopting healthcare IT solutions to bring the sector to the next level.
• Advancements in ICT are upsetting not only traditional businesses, but even those not immediately thought of as probable beneficiaries—such as the healthcare sector.
• Health Information Management professionals are the stewards and guardians of patient health information.
• From electronic patient records to the wireless transmittal of patient files for remote diagnosis, improvements in communication and technology will lead to better delivery of healthcare services.
• Setting vision and strategy roadmap involves forming a governance board to set direction, prioritize work, and allocate resources.
• Those with health information management and health information technology careers manage all aspects of the content of patient medical records and patient information systems.