Great Careers in Health Information Technology

There is a huge demand for health information technology specialists. These professionals are responsible for maintaining, designing and operating the technology that keeps the healthcare industry running. The career outlook for clinical coders, patient information specialists, data analysts and clinical coders is strong. Technicians are employed in hospitals, clinics and private practices, mental health facilities, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, vendor companies, government agencies and education.
As the use of technology in the healthcare industry continues to increase the number of career opportunities for professional technicians will continue to grow as well. Patient care is becoming more complex. This is resulting in an increase in medical records that need to be maintained for each patient, and in turn, creating a need for more health information technicians to manage patient records. The benefits of using modern technology in the healthcare industry include less paperwork, higher productivity as well as fewer mistakes in patient record keeping.
An associate degree in health information technology will prepare students for positions as healthcare applications developers, health information technicians, medical secretaries and clinical laboratory technicians as well as consultants and sales and marketing support positions. Many graduates seek positions in hospitals or clinical settings, although many choose to enter the pharmaceutical and insurance industries.
Degree programs encompass learning in technology, administration and medical areas. Graduates will be skilled in many areas of computer science including database management, trouble shooting, technical support and computer networking. They will also be knowledgeable in hospital regulations, insurance and billing procedures, medical ethics, patient privacy and record processing. Additional courses in medical areas will include medical terminology, biology, anatomy and physiology.
Applications developers create software to efficiently collect patient data, and streamline data processing. The shift to digital records and wireless communications in the medical field is creating a need for skilled professionals to help with this transition. Automated alert and reminder systems as well as digital protocol and safety systems are also among the applications that technicians design and maintain. Their work allows those responsible for patient care to do be more effective in their work.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that the demand for health information technologists will increase at a faster than normal rate through 2014, and maybe longer. Jobs for clinical laboratory technicians will be the fastest growing segment. The demand for medical secretaries will be the slowest growing; however, there will still be a number of jobs for these professionals.

Explore the Field of Health Information Technology

The healthcare industry is growing faster than ever, and growing with it is the need for trained professionals in the field of information technology. With advances in medicine and technology, digital record keeping and data basing have become fundamental elements to modern healthcare facilities.
According to statistics held by the United States Bureau of Labor, job prospects for professional in the health information technology field are expected to be among the fastest growing for the next decade. In addition, technicians are in constant demand by employers, making IT professionals in the health industry invaluable. Wages for technicians averaged at $40,610 in 2008, and those holding degrees from accredited universities earned even more.
Healthcare technicians perform a variety of duties relating to organization records handling. Their skills are essential to efficient patient care. Some of these duties include compiling medical information like medical history, current symptoms, examination results, diagnostic tests, treatment methods, and past healthcare services provided. Workers in this field also organize and manage medical data and ensure the quality and accuracy of data.
In addition to careful management of data, technicians are responsible for understanding and using a variety of advanced equipment and technologies. Technicians are now proficient with electronic health records, or EHR. With this type of software, technicians maintain and analyze all of a facilities data. Professionals often work to improve the quality of data management, and contribute to greater quality in overall patient care.
Professionals in the health information technology field may hold an associates degree, or higher. Programs in the field are offered at a variety of field, and typically cover a broad range of topics in healthcare and computer systems. At the associate's level, graduates can expect an introductory level of knowledge of the following areas.
Basic Medical Terminology
Graduates can expect a rich understanding of medical terminology so they can communicate with medical professionals and understand important concepts for healthcare organizations and patient care.
-Health Services and Information Systems Classes will cover the history of healthcare facilities in the United States and the evolution of modern day procedures in the industry.
-International Classification of Diseases Coding Central to a healthcare professional's basic knowledge is an understanding of the layout of disease classification. Graduates will be better able to interpret and communicate this data.
-Legal and Regulatory Issues in Health Information Programs will prepare graduates to deal with the specific technology laws related to patient privacy and records handling.

Get a Degree in Health Information Technology

A degree in health information technology opens up many career options. Whether someone is interested in the scientific aspects of the field, or the business needed to ensure the processes run smoothly, the job options are numerous. Each of these careers has their own unique requirements in terms of the job description, but they all begin with the same degree.
A health information technician has the job of reviewing the medical charts of patients. While checking for completion and accuracy, they also compile reports and assign the diagnosis codes for several purposes. The diagnosis codes are used by the physician, insurance claims, and data collection. The work that an information technician does ensures that the healthcare providers can work efficiently for the patients. This occupation requires great computer proficiency and little direct contact with the patients. Entry level positions are available with an associate's degree, but certification is required by the state in many cases.
A medical coder's task is similar to that of a health information technician but adds more of a business element to the job. Again, the medical coder will review documents for the physicians. However, this job requires further assessment. Next, diagnostic and procedural codes are assigned and sequenced using the standard coding system. The business aspect is entered in because the financial reimbursement hinges upon the accuracy of this coding system. An associate's degree is necessary to reach an entry level position. The position of a medical coder is a popular entry point into the health care field due to the advancement opportunities that stem from having this knowledge.
Healthcare information managers deal almost solely with the business components of services. They are the ones that manage the systems that house all the documents, including insurance and those provided by the physician. Managers are needed in hospitals, nursing homes, home care agencies, and any other business in a related field. This position requires at least a bachelor's degree, but many also have a master's degree.
Medical secretaries enable the work performed in this professional sphere to run efficiently. They perform clerical and administrative work. Among these tasks include managing correspondence and transcribing dictation. They also schedule appointments and make arrangements for patients that need to be admitted outside their specific office. Secretaries must be knowledgeable concerning the paperwork such as insurance and billing, but must also understand the laboratory procedures.
A degree in health information technology allows those entering the medical field to earn a place and maintain a professional career. With increased education, the opportunities increase exponentially. Whether someone is simply looking to break into the field or wants to climb their way to the top, health information technology is essential.

Health Information - Pros and Cons of Raisins

It is beneficial to know the health information on the food you are snacking on. Raisins are sweet-tasting delicacies obtained from drying grapes either under the sun or through mechanical driers. Raisins can be eaten alone or mixed with desserts, pastries and different dishes.
Dr. Mehmet Oz had once posted on his Facebook wall: "Breakfast of champions: steel-cut oatmeal, walnuts, raisins, and flaxseed oil. Don't skip this important meal!"
Indeed, raisins are a tasty addition to cereals. Instead of eating candy and sugary junk food, raisins are a better choice to satisfy a sweet tooth. Find out the health information on some of the pros and cons of raisins.
Pros
Raisins provide nutritional values as they contain vitamins, minerals, amino acids and fiber. They are a good source of potassium and magnesium, which both reduce acidity. Magnesium is essential in regulating metabolism and helps lower blood pressure. Raisins also have considerable amounts of iron, which is good for those who are anemic. The B vitamins and copper found in raisins are also helpful in blood formation.
Raisins aid in bone health since they contain calcium and boron. They also contain phytonutrients that are beneficial for ocular health.
They may be high in fiber
Cons
There are studies that link raisins to the promotion of tooth decay.
They are VERY high in sugar.
You will probably get diarrhea.
There are actually upper limits for vitamins and minerals. You may have reached one or more.
You probably feel like crap and may be at risk for dental caries (cavities) if you didn't brush your teeth often enough, as that sugar sticks to your teeth.
Funny how, aside from the advantages greatly outweighing the disadvantage, the only disadvantage cited is highly preventable just by brushing your teeth after munching on these sweet delights.

Most of the Much Needed Health Information Is Simply Right at the Fingertips

Most of the much needed health information is simply right at the fingertips. You could become a fitness expert yourself if you paid attention to all of this information that comes from late night infomercials, health or fitness blogs, fitness magazines, the internet, and TV shows. By now, everyone should be aware of the drill. You should eat a smaller amount of fattening or sugar containing foods, avoid fast food, and exercise more often. Furthermore, we know we need to try to keep motivated at doing all of these things for a healthier body. We also are aware of which foods may battle cancer, elevated blood pressure, and heart disease as well. Contrary to the past, we hear this information on a daily basis, even when we wish to not know about it.
Although we have all of this information at hand, diseases, along with obesity continue to be a problem worldwide. What is the reason for this? Do you view yourself as part of the healthy statistic, or are there many changes that could be made? Do you seriously care for your body properly? If you answered these questions no, what is the reason? What is stopping you from treating your body properly and staying healthy?
Concerning me, I can advise you that when it happens, sadly it is due to a combination of things. I do try to stay vigorous and attempt to consume healthy foods the majority of the time, however, like most people, I may have several small slips. There are times when I may be a bit lazy, and I just wish to do whatever I want, even if that includes consuming a pint of ice cream. However, I do not do this on a daily basis. We are all informed about how dangerous alcohol consumption may be, but during holiday events, I likely will have a glass in my hand. I will not tell you a lie; I love wine, margaritas, and beer as well as tequila shots. Whether this is right or wrong! Depending on the crowd I am with, alcohol consumption may tend to get a little wild at times.
I try to live my life to the absolute fullest I can, this includes not denying myself of any of life's pleasures. The good thing is however, that I can pull back, and know when the time is right to do so. Usually, the following day I can be expected to be back on the treadmill. I will also be back to eating correctly and doing what I recognize is best for my body. In my opinion, you do not have to refrain from having fun and letting go every once in awhile, as long as this does not happen daily.
I tend to manage to remain well and fit even though I have broken the rules from time to time. I must add that this is not always an easy task to perform.
For several, discovering that steadiness may be a little more difficult because of constant worry, no support, pessimistic peer pressure, as well as temptation. This includes if you have to care for others prior to caring for yourself. Other times, you may simply be too tired to go exercise or cook yourself dinner. Those moments are what result in you not making healthy choices for your health and well being.
What is the deal? In your eyes, are you healthy and in good shape? If the answer is no, you need to evaluate the reason for this. What is stopping you from reaching that? Is there anything in particular that would help get you to that point? Is this simply because of you, or do you have a situation or influences that will not allow you to reach your goal? With all the disease and health problems in today's world, everyone needs to properly evaluate their health, and make necessary changes.

Medical Transcription Outsourcing and Health Information Management

Modern day healthcare depends on the input from various sources to be effective and profitable. One such aspect that plays a vital role in healthcare is health information management. Health information management is the practice of maintenance and care of health records. Health information professional have been described to play a critical role in the delivery of healthcare. They focus on collection, maintenance and the use of quality healthcare data to support the information intensive and information reliant healthcare system.
One important aspect of health information management is medical transcription, which is the process of documenting the patient-healthcare professional encounter. Medical transcription is a specialized process requiring the optimum combination of people skills, processes and technology. Outsourcing medical transcription ensures that patient records are created in a professional manner making the process efficient, effective and economical. Patient records need to fit a certain criteria to be useful in the healthcare process. The service provider needs to be evaluated based on the criteria used to evaluate data characteristics:
  • Accuracy: Medical records of patients are vital to the process of healthcare. They provide continuity, basis for planning future care, assist in case of litigation and can be used for education and research. Therefore the accuracy of the data captured should be as close to 100% as possible.
  • Accessibility: To provide quality healthcare it is important that information is easily accessible. It not only helps healthcare professionals and support staff provide quality care but also organize their time better. Outsourcing can help in this aspect by providing archiving facilities, which make it easier to trace file.
  • Comprehensive: Patient records need to encompass all the details of the patient's medical history. This aids healthcare professionals in making the right treatment plan. The service provider needs to ensure that all the details are comprehensively captured during the transcription process.
  • Consistency: Healthcare is a complex field and it is important that the value of the data should be reliable and standard across various applications. This is the responsibility of the transcriptionists who actually transcribe the records. It is important that their training program encompasses all the details of the specialty they are transcribing for.
  • Currency: The patient records should reflect current data. Creating timely records is an important duty of the service provider.
  • Definition: This means that the data should be clearly defined with no room for misunderstanding. This requires the transcription team to have in-depth knowledge of medical terms and definitions.
  • Granularity: This means the attributes and value of data should be defined at the correct level of detail.
  • Precision: The details in the medical record, documenting the essentials so that no details are missed but unnecessary data is not included.
  • Relevancy: The data captured in the medical records should be relevant.
  • Timeliness: The medical records need to be created with all the above given attributes within a reasonable time frame. The optimum turnaround time would aid both quality healthcare and quicker reimbursements.
Outsourcing to a professional medical transcription service provider ensures that medical records are created with all the attributes.

Classifying Health Information Systems (HIS)

The present article will focus on presenting the various ways according to which a health care system can be classified.
* Therefore, a first class is represented by patient centered IS . They are actually the electronic version of patients' information. Terms such as electronic patient record (EPR) or computer based patient record (CPR) systems are usually associated with this type of health information system. The tasks of such system are to manage comprehensively patient care information, including medical records, theatre management, appointment scheduling and ward reporting.
* A second type of HIS are called clinical IS that separately administer specialized service of clinical departments. Patient monitoring systems and anesthesia documentation system are examples of such type. As the specific tasks of CIS are concerned, the main ones are to collect specific data for patient care, to manage, plan and maintain national data repositories. These particular tasks are distributed accordingly to departments such as internal medicine, neurology, cardiology, obstetrics, psychiatry and surgery. The purposes to which these activities are subordinated are represented by administrative support, decision support, picture archiving, image analysis, patient data collection, monitoring, reporting, evaluation and research.
* Radiology IS are the ones which endorse the acquisition and analysis of radiological images, but also fulfill administrative functions of radiology departments.
* Laboratory IS are designed and created in order to perform data validation, administration, electronic transmission and computer storage. Due to the fact that this system is used in different hospitals, it must interface with various instruments and other information systems, such as LIS. The latter mentioned defines a highly configurable application that facilitates a broad range of laboratory workflow models. It is highly useful when many tests are performed, generating large data. They fully and automatically analyze samples, processing computer generated results. The major contribution of this type of system resides in that it helps clinicians to analyze trends and evaluate treatment effects.
* A fifth class is represented by pharmacy IS , which primarily are used to maintain medication information. Keeping patients' records, checking prescriptions and providing drug prescriptions are among the major functions of this type of health information system.
* Hospital IS comprises a series of integrated hospital information systems such as computerized physician order entry (CPOE), patient care information systems, nursing documentation systems, general practitioner IS and others. The functionality of the hospital information systems covers the operational, tactical and strategic levels of healthcare activities.
* Telemedicine is a HIS supported by electronic processes and communication, facilitating the exchange between primary care physicians, specialists and patients from disperse locations.

Alternative Health Information - Treatments For Headaches

Headaches have been experienced by almost everybody at some point. These headaches can range from those mild irritations to that of an incapacitating pain that needs immediate remedy. Headaches are being extensively researched and treated in the medical society, but what causes them exactly still remains a puzzle to be solved. The medical community have classified headaches into three types. Primary headaches are by far the most common of these types, while cluster and secondary headaches are rare. Most headaches have no life threatening significance, although secondary headaches can be signs of serious disorders in the brain. These headaches can be treated by both using alternative health information/medicine and pharmacological medicine.
Most headaches are being classified as primary headaches, and are usually treated by over the counter medications. Ibuprofen and Aleve are effective remedies in alleviating problems given by primary headaches. The more serious ones, such as the cluster headaches, need to be treated with pain killers to prevent serious daily impairment. Other effective remedies for headaches include therapeutic options and lifestyle change. These are great ways to prevent headaches before they even start. The majority of headaches are caused by stress.
Several hours of physical exertion can easily cause a stress-related headache. The muscles in the skull tend to get constricted, which gives additional stress contributing to the pain. Treatment is fairly simple, but prevention is a more effective means of reducing the pain caused by headache. Preventing headache pain usually means looking for the onset's cause in the first place. If emotionally stressful situations are the ones that cause the pain, some sort of stress management should be undergone by the patient. Hours of physical labor should be accompanied with regular breaks to prevent the start of stress-related headaches.
Headaches occurring frequently that don't diminish and occur randomly may be a sign of a more serious condition. Unlike the primary headache which can be treated by using both alternative health guidelines/information and pharmacological medicine, treatment under these conditions may revolve around diagnosing a more serious issue. Headaches that occur on a frequent basis and seemingly without incitement could be a sign of more serious neurological issues. This kind of headache, known as a secondary headache, can signify neurological problems such as tumor growth, internal bleeding and chemical imbalances. It is important to see a specialist whenever a patient experiences these problems regularly. Prompt care can prevent the root cause of secondary headaches from becoming a bigger issue.

Introduction to Mental Health Information

Mental health illnesses are one of the growing problems in the world. It affects a good number of the population. As the world gets more advanced technology and as people experience a more complicated lifestyle, the number of people suffering from these conditions increases. If you are wondering what are a few of the causes to the problem, below is some mental health information you must know.
Genetics
The genes of a person play an integral part on the mental capacity of that person. Experts say that the person's family lineage can have a major impact in the ability of the person to handle problems and imbalances in life. Mostly, those people whose family members suffer from a illness will have higher risks of acquiring the condition compared to those people with no known predisposition.
Environment
Environment play its part in the contribution of the person's manifestation of mental illnesses. Although genes play a significant role, the environment nurtures the genetic abnormality. Even if you are born with the tendency to suffer from mental break down, your surroundings can help you prevent it. One example: proper nurturing, love and affection can combat an unhealthy mental condition. With the right emotional nourishment, you can reduce greatly the likelihood of the illness. Many experts point to the significance of the parents in rearing the right attitude in preventing the manifestation of the condition.
In conclusion as we come to the end of our mental health information overview and what could potential contribute to them; we mentioned the interaction of the genes and the environment. Although your genes are innate, you can modify your future by having supportive parents, family and friends.

How HIPAA Privacy Rules Affect Your Health Information - 6 Points

There are certain entities in the healthcare field, insurance companies and healthcare providers for example, that need to collect various information of the individual and even exchange it with other entities for treatment and insurance purposes. While this is required for the proper functioning of the industry it also poses a series of threats as sensitive information of an individual is involved. The Privacy Rules of Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) have tried to address this concern by framing a set of guidelines to protect health information.
Some of the points that covered entities have to keep in mind regarding health information are listed below.
• Collection: The most important thing that any covered entity must keep in mind is that the data must be collected by legitimate means only without resorting to any unfair and secretive practices. The individual must be duly informed about why the data is being collected and the process must be continued only after receiving consent.
• Quality: The covered entities must also make sure that the data collected is relevant to their specific purposes. No attempt must be made to gather any extra data; only the information required for the smooth functioning of the treatment or for any related matter must be sought. Instead the entity must focus on ensuring that the information is complete and accurate to the best of their knowledge.
• Use: A very vital aspect of the HIPAA Privacy Rules is the use of the collected information. Covered entities that are in possession of the individual's data must use it only for the purposes allowed by the law and share the information solely with entities that require it for the approved purposes. Remember that if you are one of the entities you must neither seek data nor disclose it to others if it falls outside the purview of the relevant rules.
• Clarity: All the covered entities are required to have a clear set of policies regarding the management of personal health information. Complete information about the practices followed for using the data must be readily available; in fact the entities must provide the patient with the Notice of Privacy Practices (NOPP) at the first opportunity to keep them well informed.
• Safeguards: Besides the collection of appropriate data the entities are also required to take sufficient measures to safeguard such information. The safeguards must provide adequate protection against data theft, unauthorized access and even destruction of the records.
• Patient Participation: To give the patient more control over their own information HIPAA Privacy Rules require an entity to seek due authorization from the patient for use of the data for purposes other than those specified by the law. In addition the patient can seek a copy of personal information and even make suggestions to modify or delete certain content.
All the parties involved must understand the HIPAA Privacy Rules for managing information, whether it is the covered entities seeking data or the patient who must know the consequences when authorizing use of personal information.