1. Implementation & Utilization of Information Technology At Different Stages of Hospital Development

2. Operational Challenges Faced by Hospitals
The main operational challenges faced by hospitals can be broadly categorized as:

3. Current Healthcare Requirements
The current healthcare environment has made it critically important that hospital costs and quality be managed in an integrated fashion
Healthcare reforms are expected to make most reduction and quality enhancement more important
Hospital processes should be more patient-centric to give more patient satisfaction
Healthcare processes should be receptive to adopting cutting edge technology
Public and private partnership for setting up Super-specialty hospitals
Ambulances fitted with GPS and Mobile App to improve emergency care and reduce mortality rate
Post treatment Patient feedback to improve the quality of care at hospitals
Provision of Turn-around-time reports to improve long waits before or between appointments, movement of patients for different procedures etc.

4. How Can Information Technology Help?
Information Technology is not just a tool – it is an enabler to achieve the business goals
Information technology has the potential to give doctors and providers of medical care a much more complete picture of the patient in front of them, and patients a much easier way to access their complete medical history
HIS is an element of health informatics that focuses mainly on the administrational needs of hospitals
In many implementations, a HIS is a comprehensive, integrated information system designed to manage all the aspects of a hospital's operation such as:
Medical
Administrative
Financial, and
Legal issues and the corresponding processing of services.

5. Uses of HIS
The HIS is basically the core transactional system of the hospital. It is often the:
main point of data entry for almost all hospital transactions, including patient registration, admissions, and order charges.
main database and storage facility for all transactions
main source of census and reports for hospital management, including patient counts, admission numbers and financial reports.
The most commonly-available modules in an HIS give a hint of the wide coverage of transactions handled by the system.

6. Advantages and Benefits of HIS
There are several benefits of using an IT system to streamline hospital operations.
Data is entered at the source. No more paper slips passed around and handed to an encoder.
Quick access and retrieval to patient information and hospital transactions.
Easy monitoring of supplies, inventory and medicines.
Reduces documentation needs and minimizes use of paper.
Improves turn-around time for hospital procedures dependent on paper- based slips and logbooks.
Better audit controls and policy compliance.

7. What Do Hospitals Expect Out of HIS?
Hospitals need maximum ROI while investing in a HIS.
Any ideal Hospital Information Solution is expected to give:
Patient Centric Controls
Seamless Data Integration
Unlimited User Licenses
Highly Secured Inventory Control
Automated Procurement
Re-usability of Consumables and Disposables using ETO Sterilization
Mobile Device Integration
Subcontracting Linen and Laundry management
Pay-as-you-use Stock Management

8. Case Study on ROI
A Live Case Study on a big hospital in Kolkata showed that after implementing HIS:
Software was deployed in no time and total software support was made available to tweak the software as required and generate reports that the management needed to improve the operations
Architecture was very helpful when such operational changes were needed and data analytics were made easy
The work flow and the patient flow were monitored closely on daily basis and capacities were enhanced wherever things choked the system
A consultant was able to see three times the number of outpatients he was seeing every day resulting in a 60% growth in revenues year after year from 2010 to 2015
Average Length of Stay of in patients was kept constant and the inpatients were taken care of to get an early discharge; their accounts were made available instantaneously
The information on how much could be claimed from the policy of insured and how much Third Party Agents of Insurance Companies will be settled was made available to the insurance desk and the patient as and when required

9. Case Study on ROI (contd.)
The control of consumables issue was meticulous. Issues to the patients were strictly based on case requirements.
The medicines and catheters with expiration dates were monitored carefully to replenish with expiry date alerts with new stocks.
A special procedure was introduced to re – sterilize consumables and re use them.
Laundry operations were carried out with the required consumables only to avoid wastage.
Supply Chain Systems were reinforced to reduce the inventory.
Operating Theatre Systems threw up a list of activities to be performed with a clock work /precision;
Tools required for next day’s operations were lined up for sterilization in autoclaves and moved to the relevant Operation Theatre with patients’ name properly displayed.

10. 516280 479824 456131 355134 294347 237199 Case Study on ROI (Figures)
Revenue from operations
Domestic Turnover
719454
657918
633887
537990
459803
366207
(II) Other income
24139
17464
14212
9223
6779
3384
(III) Total Revenue (I+II)
743593
675382
648099
547213
466582
369591
(IV) Expenses
 516280
 479824
 456131
 355134
 294347
 237199
Profits
93609
71681
72052
91663
78076
62876

11. Turn-Around-Time (TAT) Reports
Hospitals need to measure the Turn-Around-Time in the areas of every department. HIS applications must cater to many such TAT Reports. For example, a Laboratory TAT would consist of:

12. HIS Interfaces
To have a typical paperless management in any Hospital, the HIS should have multiple interfaces. Interfaces act as the keys to many doors :

13. Government Schemes
In India, any HIS should be capable of integrating various Government Schemes for billing – especially in large hospitals.

14. Integrated Billing Management
Billing Management is perhaps the most vital part of any Hospital, and an important requirement in any HIS. The Billing Management should typically take care of the following:

15. Disadvantages of Healthcare Informatics
While advantages are many, the problems Hospitals face with HIS are:

16. Some Challenges Faced During HIS Implementation
Cloud vs Client Server Technologies
Data Security
Absence of Past Data
Physical Work Flow
Staff Training
Standardization of Drugs
Multiplicity of Treatment Methodologies
Norms for Procedures
Vendor Managed Inventories
Absence of strong Inventory Control
Skill Matrix of Nursing Staff
Discharge Delays due to billing
Anywhere Approvals
Analytics
Need for customer handholding
Multiplicity of Insurance
Transparency of Unclaimable Claims

17. The Way Forward
With the emerging trends in technology, Healthcare and Information Technology must go hand-in-hand.
Patients need excellent personalized healthcare at the most affordable cost with the shortest turn around.
Health payers want to provide excellent care in the most cost effective way.
Physicians and healthcare providers want to provide excellent healthcare and be fairly compensated for their services.
The key is how to measure quality and how to measure outcome.
Healthcare Informatics provides the answers to all such concerns.

18. How Will Healthcare Informatics Help?
Empowering Patients with more robust and easily accessible Patient Portals where:
they can access their EHRs, and
input data readable and measurable by the EHR
Empowering Physicians with applications scalable on Mobile devices where:
they can easily access Patient data, and
prescribe medicines and treatments to patients on the go
Empowering Healthcare providers by ensuring they give cost-effective treatment to the patients
Implementing Voice Recognition Technology, Data Analytics, and Clinical Decision Making tools so that:
Healthcare Providers improve the quality of Patient Care in the most cost effective way
Patients receive quality care by paying less
Healthcare Payers pay Healthcare Providers based on outcome rather than complexity of the medical problem

19. Thank You