5 HIT Considerations for 2013

Health information technology (HIT) is an ever-growing part of the health care industry. More doctors are e-prescribing, more hospitals and practices are installing electronic health records (EHR) and more patients want the ease of online health care access.

However, HIT adoption still has a long way to go. U.S. physicians have proven to be slightly more skeptical of HIT than other doctors around the world. Med students still aren’t being trained as much as they should on EHRs.

Since 2013 is almost upon us, now is the time to be considering resolutions for the New Year. Here are five HIT resolutions the health industry should be thinking about, according to Information Week.

1. Get on board with CPOE

Computerized physician order entry (CPOE) systems reduce cost while improving the quality of care, according to studies. And yet, just over one-third of U.S. hospitals have installed a CPOE system

2. Step it up on security

Moving more patient data onto computers means it could be breached, something patients and physicians have both worried about. However, there are ways to secure data if the right steps are taken and every employee follows the system.

3. Update your EHR

Early adopters especially need to make sure their EHRs are up-to-date. If your EHR is showing its age, you might need to upgrade or even switch.

4. Dig into clinical decision support

A CDS system can help reduce patient harm from diagnostic mistakes. However, physicians need to make sure that they aren’t feeding the wrong information. ECRI Institute named patient/data mismatches in HIT systems as the fourth worst HIT hazard for 2013.

5. Hire more data analysts

A HIMSS Leadership Survey at the beginning of 2012 revealed that the majority of health care organizations expected to increase their IT staffs over the course of the year. With the direction health care has been moving, data analysts are a must have, but unfortunately, there’s a shortage of talent in HIT, according to Information Week.

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5 Healthcare IT Resolutions for 2013 - Information Week