Healthcare InformaticsKimberly Levitt
Chapter 2 Content Application Scenarios
Data Quality Content Application Scenario
It is imperative that we become connected in this day and age to enhance patient care. Our
practice setting has 5 satellite locations that are affiliated with the largest healthcare network in
the city, the MZTTCN Hospital System. Because this system includes services over a large
geographical area, they are experiencing problems with data that is of low quality: inconsistent
and unreliable. Therefore, they are facing more patient related errors resulting in increased care
needs and subsequently increased costs. In order to decrease errors and keep patients safe, they
have decided to implement a new EHR system that everyone will access. Everyone must be
trained on the system. The system is launched and within 3 months it is noted that there is not an
improvement in error rates. The team responsible for this new EHR is baffled.
1. Based on what you have read about information systems, what are some of the reasons that
data might be of low quality, inconsistent, and/or unreliable?
Human error, viruses, worms, hardware failures or crashes, transmission errors, hackers,
duplicate, incomplete, or outdated records.
They call in a consulting firm to assess the enterprise-wide system, which means that all of our
satellites are also participating in the evaluation. It is determined that there were three major
issues: the majority of patients every year are new to the system, many of the patients do not
have health insurance which poses a coding issue for entering them into the system, and even
though we comply with their system requirements, others within the system do not and have their
own recording systems that are not interoperable.
2. What is interoperability and why is it important?
Healthcare Informatics
Kimberly Levitt
Chapter 2 Content Application Scenarios
Ability of various systems to exchange information—it is important for high-quality care and
continuity of care.
Because we do not have current, accurate, reliable information, we must rely on the patients to
not only relate their health history but to also tell us what treatments/care they are currently
receiving. The consultants’ first recommendation is that everyone interacting within the network
must either use the same EHR or be fully interoperable. After 6 months, the interoperability path
that was chosen by a few affiliates is found to not be truly interoperable and the data/information
gaps continued. The MZTTCN Hospital System receives funding to provide EHR and training
for all affiliates. Ongoing education and collaboration throughout the following year resulted in a
50% decrease in data/information gaps patient related errors.
3. What strategies could/should be used by the system to continue to reduce patient related
errors?
Make the information to healthcare providers timely and meaningful—if clinicians are inundated
with data without ability to process it, then there is too much data and too little wisdom.