Examine the implications of ethical, legal, and regulatory policy issues on health care information systems.

Case Study, Stage 4: IT and Legal Considerations for Proposed EHR Technology Solution

Before you begin this assignment, be sure you have read the “UMUC Family Clinic Case Study”, the Case Study Stages 1-3, your required readings and feedback on your graded work so far.

Purpose of this Assignment

This assignment gives you the opportunity to apply the concepts of this course to address the implementation and on-going management of the certified EHR technology solution you have proposed for the UMUC Family Clinic.  This assignment addresses the following course outcomes to enable you to:

• Evaluate the organizational environment in the health care industry to recognize how technology solutions enable strategic outcomes.
• Evaluate technology solutions in the health care industry to improve the quality of care, safety, and financial management decisions.
• Examine the implications of ethical, legal, and regulatory policy issues on health care information systems.

IT, Legal, Ethical and Regulatory Considerations for Proposed EHR Technology Solution 

Following your report of the Meaningful Use reporting requirements in your Stage 3 project, the owner of the UMUC Family Clinic has still not authorized the needed project funding.  In evaluating an IT proposal, there are several areas that need to be considered.  Prior to authorizing the needed project funding, the owner has asked you to prepare a table addressing the important aspects/considerations of the project.These considerations are listed in the table provided with this assignment.Considerations include such areas as IT operational safeguard, architectural, project/implementation, legal and ethical considerations.

Depending on the specific EHR technology solution you proposed, some of the considerations would be more important than others, and some may not need specific consideration for the initial implementation of your proposed solution.  (If a consideration is not relevant for the solution as described and at implementation but might be something for the future, mark it “N/A”.  If for instance cloud computing is not in the solution being implemented, but may be considered in the future it would be N/A and not required for the solution.  Please note that even N/A items require an explanation.) 

The responses that you enter into the table for each consideration must be aligned to the one specific solution you proposed and appropriate to the UMUC Family Clinic.

Assignment

Using the EHR technology solution you proposed in Stage 2, you should briefly explain it and then copy the table below and complete the remaining two columns.  For each area of consideration, you should rank it as high, medium, low, or N/A (Not Applicable) in importance or relevance at time of implementation (and not some time in the future) for the specific EHR technology solution you proposed for the UMUC Family Clinic.  Then, provide a brief explanation, a minimum of two sentences for each, to justify that ranking or the N/A.  Do not try to create a reason if there is none, but carefully analyze each consideration and determine whether it applies and how.  Explanations must provide enough information to convey the reasoning behind the ranking.  DO NOT copy the definitions from the textbook or other sources but put into your own words to demonstrate your understanding of the concept as you provide your explanation for the ranking.  Use the Grading Rubric to be sure you have covered everything.  Submit your paper with answers to parts 1 and 2 below via your Assignment Folder as a Microsoft Word document with your last name included in the filename.

Part 1: Briefly explain your proposed EHR technology solution.  Identify what the solution is, what it is expected to do for the UMUC Family Clinic, and what major hardware, software and communications components will be used, summarizing the information you provided for Stage 2.

Part 2:  Table of Considerations.  The Areas for consideration are defined in the section “Concepts” which follows the table of considerations.  An example for one entry is also provided below.  Click on the upper left corner of the table to copy it into your paper.

Table of Considerations
	Area	High/Medium/Low Importance or Relevance or Not Applicable (N/A)	Explanation for Ranking /How you will address it(minimum 2 sentences for each, linked to specific EHR technology solution proposed)
IT – Operational Safeguards
	Identity Management & Authorization
	Training Programs
	Continuity of Operations
	Incident Procedures
	Accountability
	Risk Assessment
	System Activity Review
IT – Architectural Safeguards
	Reliability
	Availability
	Maintainability
	Scalability
	Safety
	Cloud Computing
III.         IT – Project Management Considerations
	Project Resources (Human, Financial)
	Medical Paper Record Migration
	Change Management during Implementation
	Change Management after Implementation
Legal, Ethical, and Regulatory Reporting Considerations
	Business Associate Contracts
	HIPAA
Additional Consideration
	Research and add a consideration from your knowledge of the course

Concepts:

For the 19 considerations covered in the above table, explanations can be found in the following readings:

• Operational, Security and Architectural Safeguards – Ch. 27 & 28 & 29
• Ethical and Legal consideration – Ch. 3 & 13 (Week 7 readings)

For consideration #20, it is up to you to add a consideration that you feel is important, and that was not covered in the 19 considerations listed in the table.  It is expected that you may do some external research, if you can’t find an additional consideration through your course readings. This is part of the assignment and is not additional credit.

Example from another industry:  For example, for a fitness center that is adopting a new technology solution involving a kiosk for customers to use to pay for their membership at the gym, then for the Area of Accessibility, the following might be entered.  (The definition of Accessibility is provided here for clarification.  Definitions are not required to be entered into the table above.)  Note the thorough explanation of the ranking.

Area	High/Medium/Low Importance or Relevance or Not Applicable (N/A)	Explanation for Ranking
Accessibility“Accessibility is the degree to which a product, device, service, or environment is available to as many people as possible.”(Wikipedia.com)	Medium	Since the customers will use the kiosk to pay their membership fees, it must be accessible to everyone.  Customers need a convenient and individual method of logging into the system that enables them to perform the needed tasks quickly and efficiently.  The customers should have controlled access that prohibits them from entering any areas or performing any functions not intended for customer use. It is ranked “Medium” because it is important for some customers who choose to use the kiosk and the system cannot be accessed without some type of login so it is important; however, it is not “High” since there are other methods of paying membership fees.

The “right” and “wrong” answers have to do with whether or not you correctly ranked each consideration as it relates to your proposed EHR technology solution and have provided a well-supported explanation for the ranking you assigned.  Your responses will be evaluated on whether they are applicable to the solution, correctly ranked, adequately explained, and are appropriate to the UMUC Family Clinic.  Use the Rubric below to be sure you have covered all aspects.

GRADING RUBRIC:

Attribute	Full Points	Partial Points	No points	Possible Points	Points Earned
Explanation of Proposed Solution	Brief explanation of solution provides enough information to set stage for rankings.	Explanation of solution is not adequate to set stage for rankings.	No explanation of proposed solution provided.	10
High/Medium/ Low/NA Rankings	Rankings are appropriate to proposed EHR technology solution and case study; demonstrate understanding of course concepts, analysis and critical thinking.	Rankings are lacking relationship to proposed EHR technology solution and/or case study, and/or in demonstration of understanding of course concepts, analysis, and/or critical thinking.	No rankings provided.	40(2 points each)
Explanations	Explanations justify rankings, are linked to proposed EHR technology solution and/or case study, and demonstrate understanding of course concepts, analysis, and critical thinking.	(Some) explanations are not linked to proposed technology solution and/or the case study, and/or do not adequately justify rankings; may be lacking in demonstration of understanding of course concepts, analysis, and/or critical thinking.	No explanations provided.	40(2 points each)
Table Format	Information is professionally presented; uses correct sentence structure, grammar, and spelling.	Information is adequately presented ,or may not be professionally presented, and/or contains grammar and/or spelling errors.	Paper is extremely poorly written and does not convey the information.	10
			TOTAL Points	100
		100 points =15% of final course grade	Points Recorded(total points x .15)