Assignment: Policy/Regulation Fact Sheet

Assignment: Policy/Regulation Fact Sheet

As a professional nurse, you are expected to apply your expertise to patient care. On occasion, you will also be expected to share that expertise.

With evolving technology and continuous changes to regulations designed to keep up these changes, there is usually a need to share information and expertise to inform colleagues, leadership, patients, and other stakeholders.

In this Assignment, you will study a recent nursing informatics-related healthcare policy, and you will share the relevant details via a fact sheet designed to inform and educate.

To Prepare:

• Review the Resources on healthcare policy and regulatory/legislative topics related to health and nursing informatics.
• Consider the role of the nurse informaticist in relation to a healthcare organization’s compliance with various policies and regulations, such as the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA).
• Research and select one health or nursing informatics policy (within the past 5 years) or regulation for further study.

The Assignment: (1 page not including the title and reference page)

Create a 1-page fact sheet that your healthcare organization could hypothetically use to explain the health or nursing informatics policy/regulation you selected. Your fact sheet should address the following:

• Briefly and generally explain the policy or regulation you selected.
• Address the impact of the policy or regulation you selected on system implementation.
• Address the impact of the policy or regulation you selected on clinical care, patient/provider interactions, and workflow.
• Highlight organizational policies and procedures that are/will be in place at your healthcare organization to address the policy or regulation you selected. Be specific.
• Use APA format and include a title page, in-text citations, and reference page.
• Use the Safe Assign Drafts to check your match percentage before submitting your work.

Briefly and generally explain the policy or regulation you selected.

The selected regulation is ONC’s Cures Act Final Rule. This is a federal regulation targeted at supporting secure and seamless access, exchange and use of electronic health information. It ensures that while authorized persons (patients and providers) have access to electronic health information, that access is secure. In addition, the regulation seeks to foster an environment of competition and innovation by encouraging developers to create ecosystems of applications that facilitate access to electronic health information while providing patients with more choices in their health care (Healthit.gov, 2019).

Address the impact of the policy or regulation you selected on system implementation.

ONC’s Cures Act Final Rule has a significant impact on system implementation. First, it makes it easier and inexpensive to make patient data requests. It makes use of modern communication technologies that allow for easy and cheaper data access. Second, it allows for choice of applications, with greater access to vibrant, competitive applications for accessing health information. Third, it defines information blocking in terms of the necessary and reasonable activities that do not constitute information blocking, as well as defining the operational flexibility for securing information, protecting patient privacy, and handling data management situations. Fourth, it improves patient safety by creating a balance between the information needs of patients and providers. It encourages transparency around patient safety issues while protecting the information (Healthit.gov, 2019).

Address the impact of the policy or regulation you selected on clinical care, patient/provider interactions, and workflow.

The regulation has improved clinical care by making patient health information available at and when needed. In addition, it has improved patient-provider interaction by providing a secure channel in which they can communicate and interact. Besides that, it has improver workflow by availing information to providers when and as needed so that they do not have to look for the information (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2022).

Highlight organizational policies and procedures that are/will be in place at your healthcare organization to address the policy or regulation you selected.

ONC’s Cures Act Final Rule implements provisions in 21^st Century Cures Act that change how organizations managed electronic health information to include focus on advancing interoperability, supporting seamless exchange, access and use of electronic health information, and address information blocking. Towards this end, organizations apply information management policies that prevent information blocking, and facilitate communication (usability, interoperability, security, user experiences, and business practices related to exchange of electronic health information) (McGonigle & Mastrian, 2022).

References

Healthit.gov (2019, February 10). ONC’s Cures Act Final Rule. https://www.healthit.gov/curesrule/

McGonigle, D., & Mastrian, K. (2022). Nursing Informatics and the Foundation of Knowledge (5^th ed.). Jones & Bartlett Learning, LLC.