Final Exam CSLO (1-7)

CSLO 1:
1.a Describe THOUGHTFULLY why is it important to know about HMIS components and basic
functions from a managerial perspective. (At least one paragraph).
Ans Health information systems are becoming one of the tightly integrated arms of the health
system these days. It is now widely believed that it is very important to store and analyze the
historical patient data in order to accurately diagnose him. This data should not only be
available to patients immediate healthcare provider but also should be seamlessly accessible to
any of the other providers the patient moves to in future. However easy this task looks to be, in
its core essence it is one of the biggest challenges the information technology industry is facing
since its existence. To gather diversified healthcare related data from various points of capture,
to stabilize them in a standardized warehouse and then to make them available to the end user
is a tough task any manager dealing with an healthcare implementation needs to deal with.
Thus for a manager who is involved in any implementation of HMIS, understanding about HMIS
and its basic functions is very important.

1.b Describe THOUGHTFULLY how you learned to know about HMIS components and basic
functions from a managerial perspective. Give (2) examples from your personal experience of
each learning process.(at least one paragraph).
Ans : To learn about HMIS, its components and functions apart from the course material, I went
through many online publications, case studies and healthcare IT related websites.
Apart from this I learned about health care management systems in depth in my job as an
consulting service provider for Blue Cross Blue Shield. BCBS is a leading health care insurance
provider across United States. During this implementation I learned about basic HMIS
components, terminology, integration etc. I learned about how data is being captured in the
OLTP systems, how it is stabilized into OLAP and then how is it provided to various end users.

1.c Discuss in at least 2 WELL DEVELOPED paragraphs your ORIGINAL personal insights
about HMIS components and basic functions from a managerial perspective.
Ans: The basic components of HMIS are listed as follows:
a) The Data component
b) Systems Component (Hardware and software)
c) Process Component:
d) Integration Component
e) Usability/Manageability component.
HMIS functions are typically divided into three parts:
a) Data Input: Comprises of data acquisition and data verification.
b) Data Management: functions like data storage, various computations, classification and
update are part of this.

c) Data Output: Data retrieval and presentation are part of it.
When all these functions and components are seamlessly integrated into a homogeneous
functional unit, it will generate information, knowledge based on historical facts and trends. It will
empower the health practitioners to go into minute historical patterns and support their decisions
with informed assumptions and thus will help in solving complex medical problems.

1. Do you think this learning outcome is valuable or should it be changed? Justify your answer.
Ans: As new health care implementations are finalized every day and Government is pursuing
the nationwide reforms in healthcare, there is a tremendous growth in opportunities in HMIS.
Thus to learn about HMIS is advantageous to new managers as there is a tremendous scope
and opportunities in this field.
CSLO 2:
2.a Describe THOUGHTFULLY why is it important to understand the roles and
responsibilities of the chief information officer (CIO) in healthcare services
organizations. (At least one paragraph).
Ans: A CIO is the main body which helps an organization in establishing and
implementing HMIS. It is important to understand CIO roles and responsibilities as CIO
is the main leader of the Organization with large experience and knowledge in
healthcare implementations.

2.b Describe THOUGHTFULLY how you learned to understand about the roles and
responsibilities of the chief information officer (CIO) in healthcare services
organizations.
Ans: : I used text books, case studies and other study material available with this course apart
from intensive internet research for learning and understanding various roles and
responsibilities of a CIO. Also during my current project I lead a small team for a healthcare
implementation, which gave me first hand realization about roles and responsibilities of a
managing executive of a healthcare organziation.
2.c Discuss in at least 2 WELL DEVELOPED paragraphs your ORIGINAL personal
insights to understand the roles and responsibilities of the chief information officer
(CIO) in healthcare services organizations.
Ans : A CIO leads an organization in technological implementations. According to my
understanding main duties and responsibilities of a CIO are:
a) The CIO leads the health care network in planning and implementing enterprise
information.
b) He provides strategic and tactical planning for the implementation.
c) He designs, implements, and evaluates the systems.
d) He negotiates with vendors, contractors etc and ensures cost effective
implementation
e) He develops and implements end user assimilation programs with the system.

2.d Do you think this learning outcome is valuable or should it be changed? Justify your
answer.
Ans: The learning was valuable as learning about role and responsibilities of a CIO of
healthcare organization is important for every manager who sees himself in the same
decision making position for an healthcare organization in future.
CSLO3
3a. Describe THOUGHTFULLY why is it important to be be familiar with features of an
Electronic Health Record (E H R), including benefits and costs.
Ans: Electronic Health Record are typically the health record or history maintained of an
individual by its medical provider. Typically EHR is maintained by the service provider. EHR is
totally controlled by the technical staff of the provider organization and HER is saved typically on
the dedicated provider database. It is important to understand EHR, its benefits and costs as its
crucial in diagnosis and medical history preservation.

3.b Describe THOUGHTFULLY how you learnt about features of an Electronic
Health Record (E H R), including benefits and costs.
Ans: To learn about Electronic health record apart from the course material, I went through
many online publications, case studies and healthcare IT related websites. Also my job as a BI
consultant during which I worked for many health implementations, provided excellent
hands-on on the real world challenges facing any healthcare implementation.
3.c Discuss in at least 2 WELL DEVELOPED paragraphs your ORIGINAL personal
insights about features of an Electronic Health Record (E H R), including benefits and
costs.
Ans : EHR or Electronic Health Record are typically the health record or history maintained of
an individual by its medical provider. PHR or Personal Health Record is a way to organize and
coordinate an individuals healthcare related information at personal level. It ensures proper
monitoring and storage of personal health records like previous health records, lab results,
prescriptions etc. So the main difference between PHR and EHR is that the PHR is maintained
by the individual and the EHR is maintained by the service provider. Only the individual who
maintains the PHR has the authority to view or change the PHR, whereas EHR is totally
controlled by the technical staff of the provider organization. PHR can be stored as paper
records, electronically or online on various websites offering PHR services. EHR are saved
typically on the dedicated provider database.
3.d Do you think this learning outcome is valuable or should it be changed? Justify your
answer.
Ans: The learning was valuable as learning about EHR and PHR is important in early diagnosis
of any disease. Preserving medical records and sharing them between different providers is
main challenges HMIS facing these days.


CSLO 4:
Know the four major HMIS interoperability challenges as they come from databases,
languages, system platforms and semantics.
4.a Describe THOUGHTFULLY why is it important to know the four major HMIS
interoperability challenges as they come from databases, languages, system platforms
and semantics.
Ans: Interoperability means how efficiently two applications based on different platforms
can interact with each other inside a system. There are four major HMIS interoperability
challenges:
a) Databases: Patient data and other medical records stored in databases in a
database specific format are not understood by much other application.
b) Language interoperability: Applications written is specific languages makes it
difficult to interoperate with other systems.
c) System Operability: Operating system interoperability defines this incompatibility.
d) Semantic Operability: The different system architectures will have different
interpretations for same commands, variables, keywords etc.
Its a huge challenge for application designers to design applications which
homogeneously interact with other applications present inside an integrated
systems. Evolutions of carious ERP systems are solving these problems to some
extent. But due efforts are required to implement tightly integrated and
homogeneous systems.

4.b Describe THOUGHTFULLY how you learnt about the four major HMIS
interoperability challenges as they come from databases, languages, system platforms
and semantics.
Ans I took help of course materials, various case studies available on the internet and
few online journals to understand the challenges faced in the interoperability of the
different components of the HMIS. Also my job as a BI consultant provides excellent
hands-on on the real world challenges facing any healthcare implementation.


4.c Discuss in at least 2 WELL DEVELOPED paragraphs your ORIGINAL personal
insights about the four major HMIS interoperability challenges as they come from
databases, languages, system platforms and semantics
Ans: Interoperability of various heterogeneous components of a system is the major
challenge every implementation faces. Earlier technology was not that evolved, there
were no set technological standards and there was plethora of diversified vendors in the
market. All this and lack of expertise in health care informatics were the major
challenges faced by project managers.
All of this has somehow how changed though after the evolution of Enterprise resource
planning packages. ERP tightly integrates databases, languages, system platforms and
semantics into a homogeneous platform which gives the end user impression of a single
semantic layer. I worked with various healthcare ERP platforms, the best of which was
SAP healthcare.

4.d Do you think this learning outcome is valuable or should it be changed? Justify your
answer.
Ans: The outcome was valuable as it is extremely important to understand the
challenges that are to be faces by IT managers before they jump into a real world
healthcare implementation. They need to know what kinds of problems they are going to
face in future so that they can prepare themselves in terms of both technology and
resources.





CSLO FIVE:

Know the definitions of terms found in Health Management Strategic Information
System Planning/Information Requirements appendix glossary.

5. a Describe THOUGHTFULLY why is it important to know the definitions of terms
found in Health Management Strategic Information System Planning/Information
Requirements appendix glossary. (At least one paragraph)
Ans: Healthcare is just not money making. Its a sacred profession which serves
humanity and helps in saving lives. A healthcare organization runs on the trust. To
achieve that trust it is important to let its customers know how important they are for the
organization, how much it is striving to achieve excellence in research and services.
One of the best way of doing is formulating Organizational vision and mission. These
statements put forward the values for which the Organization stands. It assures patients
and even its own employees that the Organization they belong to just not care only
about money. In this way it also motivates its employees to work harder in order to
achieve the Organizational goals. Thus its important to learn about the strategic aspect
of HMIS planning.

5. b Describe THOUGHTFULLY how you learned to know the definitions of terms found
in Health Management Strategic Information System Planning/Information
Requirements appendix glossary. Give two (2) examples from your personal
experience of each learning process. (At least one paragraph)
Ans: I read few case studies and journal describing IBMs business system planning. I
read about many Organizations Vision and Mission statements. Their goals and
objectives, their derived strategy to meet these goals. I also learnt how this
Organizations assimilate planning and strategy seamlessly to achieve Competitive edge
among their rivals.

5. c Discuss in at least two WELL-DEVELOPED paragraphs your ORIGINAL personal
insights about the definitions of terms found in Health Management Strategic
Information System Planning/Information Requirements appendix glossary.
Ans: It is very important in this competitive world to achieve competitive advantage to
retain profitability. In healthcare domain its importance is doubled as you always want
to keep quality and your customers (patients) wellbeing into mind. To achieve this it is
very important to formulate decisive mission and vision and a winning strategy to
achieve it. It is important to set objectives and define clear goals to meet these
objectives. This helps in clearly stating the Organizations standards, its values and its
core commitments in front of its customers and its own employees.

5. d Do you think this learning outcome was valuable or should it be changed? Justify
your answer.
ans: It was very valuable learning outcome. It is very important to learn about health
management strategic information system planning to achieve set Organizational goals,
to realize mission and vision of the organization and to achieve competitive advantage.

CSLO SIX:

Be familiar with a model of HMIS analysis and development, such as the Waterfall
Model or the Layered Multi-view Framework.

6a. Describe THOUGHTFULLY why is it important to be familiar with a model of HMIS
analysis and development, such as the Waterfall Model or the Layered Multi-view
Framework. (At least one paragraph)
Ans: SDLC stands for software development life cycle. Its an approach widely used for
analyzing and designing IT implementations. It has following phases:
a) Requirement analysis.
b) System design.
c) System implementation
d) System testing
e) System maintainance.
There are different methodologies used to initiate and implement an HMIS system. Most
of them directly emanate from the SDLC approach. Its a systemic approach used for
implementing IT systems and is highly sequential in nature. Waterfall model is one of
direct decedents of the SDLC approach and it inherits most of its properties. It is the
simplest and most wide spread used SDLC approach.
It is crucial to be familiar with the model of HMIS analysis and development as it is
important to understand how to start building a system before actually starting building
it. Many implementations have been failed miserably because they ignored the SDLC
approach. SDLC not only incorporates the fail safe mechanism into the system but I
also makes an implementation sequential and simple.

6.b Describe THOUGHTFULLY how you learned to be familiar with a model of HMIS
analysis and development, such as the Waterfall Model or the Layered Multi-view
Framework. Give two (2) examples from your personal experience of each learning
process. (At least one paragraph)
Ans: I used text books, case studies and other study material available with this course
apart from intensive internet research for learning and understanding various SDLC
approaches. Also my job as a BI consultant in a major ERP implementation firm helped
me in getting hands on experience in understanding SDLC methodology.

6.c Discuss in at least two WELL-DEVELOPED paragraphs your ORIGINAL personal
insights about being familiar with a model of HMIS analysis and development, such as
the Waterfall Model or the Layered Multi-view Framework.

ans: SDLC stands for system development life cycle. Its a well know sequential
approach adopted by IT pundits for the implementation of a software project. It has five
different phases:
a) Requirement analysis: This stage includes a detailed study of the business
needs of the organization. Interviews with end users, business managers and
customers is performed during this face.
b) System design: High level system design is prepared during this phase.
c) System implementation: System build process is initiated.
d) System testing: System once designed is tested against the set test cases.
e) System maintenance: Ones the final hand off is done, its maintained and bugs
found during production run are removed.
It is important to follow this approach as with SDLC there would be a clear plan and
documentation of the implementation. Also being sequential in nature, if one phase
fails, you dont need to start the implementation all over again.


6.d Do you think this learning outcome was valuable or should it be changed?
Justify your answer.
Ans: The outcome was very much important as it is very crucial to understand how to
start building a system before actually starting building it. Many implementations fail
miserably because of lack of understanding of SDLC approach .

CSLO 7

7.a. Describe THOUGHTFULLY why is it important to be able to apply the five steps of
an HMIS implementation process. (At least one paragraph)\
Ans: It is very important to understand the theory behind HMIS. Most of the
implementations fail because of lack of clear understanding of underlying principal
behind it. There are five steps of a typical HMIS implementation:
a) Assessing the Available Resources
b) Assessing Data and Data Inventory
c) Profiling Data
d) Reviewing Processes
e) Reviewing Personnel Responsibilities
Understanding these steps in detail give us clear idea and theory behind a succeful
HMIS implementation.

7.b Describe THOUGHTFULLY how you learned to be able to apply the five steps of an
HMIS implementation process. Give two (2) examples from your personal experience of
each learning process. (At least one paragraph)
Ans: I used text books, case studies and other study material available with this course
apart from intensive internet research for learning and understanding various SDLC
approaches. Also my job as a BI consultant in a major ERP implementation firm helped
me in getting hands on experience in understanding SDLC methodology which in turn
helped me in understanding HMIS implementaions.
7.c Discuss in at least two WELL-DEVELOPED paragraphs your ORIGINAL personal
insights about being able to apply the five steps of an HMIS implementation process.
Ans: The implementation steps for a typical HMIS implementation are more or less
similar to the SDLC approach. Five steps of HMIS implementation process are:
f) Assessing the Available Resources: This process is similar to the requirements
gathering phase of the waterfall model. It comprise of assessing internal skills
and resources, hardware and software architecture requirements etc.
g) Assessing Data and Data Inventory: Find out who handles the organizational
data
h) Profiling Data: We eliminate redundancy and check data quality during this
phase.
i) Reviewing Processes: revisit the implementation and document the whole
process.
j) Reviewing Personnel Responsibilities: Beware of who is getting final data and
what manipulations are performed on the data
7.d Do you think this learning outcome was valuable or should it be changed? Justify
your answer.
Ans: The learning was valuable. It is very important to understand the theory behind
HMIS implementation before actually performing it. The lecture gave us clear
understanding of the principal and logic behind a successful HMIS implementation.