Implications of Health Information Technology
Health information technology, or health informatics, is emerging as one of the most promising tools in the fields of biomedical research, health care and public health. Around the world, and especially in the US and Europe, it has become a high priority to invest and fund research, education and infrastructure to improve health care systems. The goals are to identify and reduce medical errors in hospitals and pharmacies, increase the safety and effectiveness of therapies and to make diagnostic and laboratory results available to clinicians anywhere and as quickly as possible. A further goal is to reduce health care costs due to misdiagnoses, medication errors and incomplete patient information and history.
How information technology can help clinicians is by making information available to them quickly, offering analyses of populations and diseases, notifying them about new therapies, etc. It can also help advance biomedical research with further implications on the treatment of human disease. For example, the field of biomedical research is generating loads of data regarding the human genome, the function of genes and their role in disease. Technology is needed to analyze this data more quickly, with the ultimate goal of producing therapies – and particularly individualized therapies – based on an individual’s genes.
Another example that has great impact on individuals is the availability of health records electronically. Would it not be wonderful to have an individual’s health history, allergies, intolerances, prescriptions and disease diagnoses all in one electronic file that can be retrieved at a moment’s notice? Would it not be wonderful to not have to repeat this information every time we went to the doctor, hospital or pharmacy? Would it not be wonderful if the pharmacy could refill and dispense your prescription and give you a call at home to indicate it is ready to be picked up? These conveniences cannot happen without the help of information technology. Furthermore, it is the accuracy of this information that makes it even more desirable. If technology can help to provide accurate information, then it significantly eases the burdens on health professionals and individuals.
Despite all the benefits of health information technology, there are still barriers to fully implementing it. There are the infrastructure and specialist costs required for acquiring the technology; and having the skills to use the technology. There are technical challenges, especially the issue of interoperability – how information can be transferred, exchanged and updated by different facilities. It is worth noting that there are efforts under way to develop standards and certifications to outline the requirements for successful implementation. Other barriers are the issues of privacy and confidentiality, who has access to the information, how is it controlled and how can it be changed and by whom. A whole field has emerged to address the legal and ethical problems. Another barrier has been identified as the lack of specialized individuals to work in this field. It is not so much the lack of computer programmers, but the lack of clinicians or individuals in the health care field who can interact with the computer and technology gurus to explain to them the clinicians’ needs. The gurus can then translate these needs into workable solutions.
There is no doubt that the field of health informatics has come a long way. Much funding and investment has been provided, both governmental and private, to fully realize the benefits of its implementation into healthcare and public health systems. However, there is still untapped potential and questions remain about its use.