Health technology
Health technology is defined by the World Health Organization as the "application of organized knowledge and skills in the form of devices, medicines, vaccines, procedures, and systems developed to solve a health problem and improve quality of lives".[1] This includes pharmaceuticals, devices, procedures, and organizational systems used in the healthcare industry,[2] as well as computer-supported information systems. In the United States, these technologies involve standardized physical objects, as well as traditional and designed social means and methods to treat or care for patients.[3]
Development[edit]
Pre-digital era[edit]
During the pre-digital era, patients suffered from inefficient and faulty clinical systems, processes, and conditions.[4] Many medical errors happened in the past due to undeveloped health technologies. Some examples of these medical errors included adverse drug events and alarm fatigue. When many alarms are repeatedly triggered or activated, especially for unimportant events, workers may become desensitized to the alarms. Healthcare professionals who have alarm fatigue may ignore an alarm believing it to be insignificant, which could lead to death and dangerous situations. With technological development, an intelligent program of integration and physiologic sense-making was developed and helped reduce the number of false alarms.[4]
Also, with greater investment in health technologies, fewer medical errors happened. Outdated paper records were replaced in many healthcare organizations by electronic health records (EHR). According to studies, this has brought many changes to healthcare.[5] Drug administration has improved, healthcare providers can now access medical information easier, provide better treatments and faster results, and save more costs.[5]
Improvement[edit]
To help promote and expand the adoption of health information technology, Congress passed the HITECH act as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. HITECH stands for Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act. It gave the department of health and human services the authority to improve healthcare quality and efficiency through the promotion of health IT.[6] The act provided financial incentives or penalties to organizations to motivate healthcare providers to improve healthcare. The purpose of the act was to improve quality, safety, efficiency, and ultimately to reduce health disparities.[7]
One of the main parts of the HITECH act was setting the meaningful use requirement, which required EHRs to allow for the electronic exchange of health information and to submit clinical information. The purpose of HITECH is to ensure the sharing of electronic information with patients and other clinicians are secure. HITECH also aimed to help healthcare providers have more efficient operations and reduce medical errors. The program consisted of three phases. Phase one aimed to improve healthcare quality, safety and efficiency.[7] Phase two expanded on phase one and focused on clinical processes and ensuring the meaningful use of EHRs.[7] Lastly, phase three focused on using Certified Electronic Health Record Technology (CEHRT) to improve health outcomes.[7]
In 2014, the implementation of electronic records in US hospitals rose from a low percentage of 10% to a high percentage of 70%.[4]
At the beginning of 2018, healthcare providers who participated in the Medicare Promoting Interoperability Program needed to report on Quality Payment Program requirements. The program focused more on interoperability and aimed to improve patient access to health information.[7]
Privacy of health data[edit]
Phones that can track one's whereabouts, steps and more can serve as medical devices, and medical devices have much the same effect as these phones. According to one study, people were willing to share personal data for scientific advancements, although they still expressed uncertainty about who would have access to their data.[8] People are naturally cautious about giving out sensitive personal information.[8] Phones add an extra level of threat.[9] Mobile devices continue to increase in popularity each year. The addition of mobile devices serving as medical devices increases the chances for an attacker to gain unauthorized information.[9]
In 2015 the Medical Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) was passed, pushing towards electronic health records. In the article "Health Information Technology: Integration, Patient Empowerment, and Security", K. Marvin provided multiple different polls based on people's views on different types of technology entering the medical field most answers were responded with somewhat likely and very few completely disagreed on the technology being used in medicine. Marvin discusses the maintenance required to protect medical data and technology against cyber attacks as well as providing a proper data backup system for the information.[10]
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) also known as Obamacare and health information technology health care is entering the digital era. Although with this development it needs to be protected. Both health information and financial information now made digital within the health industry might become a larger target for cyber-crime. Even with multiple different types of safeguards hackers somehow still find their way in so the security that is in place needs to constantly be updated to prevent these breaches.[11]