The courses are designed for IT and non-IT professionals (e.g., physicians, administrators, nurses, lab technicians) in the healthcare industry whose roles involve leveraging digital healthcare industry opportunities to provide demonstrable value from their IT investments, in light of the digital transformation and emerging information technologies (e.g., AI, blockchain, social media, analytics, big data), while addressing important considerations like providing a secure infrastructure and hybrid work environment.  Often a team comprised of all stakeholders participates and uses the program to derive an IT-business strategy.

Lessons learned from the impact of IT on the coronavirus pandemic are included in the program. 

Select at least 4 courses from the following:

(All courses are available live/synchronously face-to-face & online)

1. Healthcare IT: Evolution, Trends, & Management Practices

This course provides comprehensive background knowledge about the development of the healthcare IT industry from different stakeholder (e.g., physicians, nurses, administrators, patients, insurance providers, government, IT) perspectives. New and emerging IT service provider roles, and management practices, as well as eHealth system transformations due to environmental, business, legal/regulatory and insurance, and technological changes (e.g., blockchain, social media, analytics, big data) will be the focus of the course. This course focuses on how the digital transformation enables innovation, especially by leveraging emerging technologies to empower patients, along with the ever changing regulatory considerations. Important topics include:

• Evolution of Healthcare Information Systems
  
• New IT Service Provider Roles
  
• HIT Development Methodology and Portfolio Management Trends
  
• New eHealth Systems as Enablers of Patient-Centered Care
  
• Emerging technologies and their impact on healthcare; e.g., blockchain, AI, Robotics
  
• Roles and responsibilities of IT and non-IT stakeholders in leveraging emerging technologies and systems

2. Front-Office Processes & Applications: External Value Chain (e.g., Partner-Facing and Patient-Facing Clinical Services, Marketing/Sales, Delivery)

As data analytics and web-based technologies and public access to them have evolved, the U.S. and other developed countries have begun to focus more on the primary healthcare consumer: the patient. Although several thought leaders have been promoting healthcare that is more consumer-driven for several years, patient-centered goals are now a part of many national programs—including the HITECH Act in the U.S.

The primary focus of this course is on the selection and implementation of emerging information technologies and software applications to support in-patient and out-patient clinical care, point-of-care decision making by providers, as well as increasing patient engagement in these decisions. General knowledge about individual, group, and organizational adoption issues will be applied to the analysis of case studies for specific clinical contexts and health system settings. Special attention will be given to what has been one of the most problematic enterprise system module adoptions: CPOE (Computerized Physician Order Entry) systems with DSS (Decision Support Systems) support and business analytics. We will then address the opportunities and challenges associated with the usage of current Web-based technologies designed for direct interaction with patients, who may be at different levels of health and computer literacy.

3. Back-Office Processes & Applications: Internal Value Chain (e.g., Core Administrative Processes, Process Improvement)

This course focuses on information systems that enable healthcare delivery organizations (HDOs) to achieve their internal performance objectives and external reporting requirements. For many years, HDOs have benefitted from highly automated supply chain management systems developed by intermediaries for the acquisition and delivery of medical and pharmaceutical supplies, as well as systems developed by third-party outsourcers for revenue cycle management. However, in comparison to organizations in other industries, many hospitals that could benefit from information technologies to improve their operational efficiencies and quality performance improvements have not invested in them. Today’s enterprise systems with integrated front-office and back-office modules therefore create new opportunities for HDOs to effectively use IT for internal improvement. The course concentrates on the opportunities and challenges for using core business systems, lean management methods, and new electronic sources for data and knowledge sharing to achieve cost and quality performance improvements.

4. Research & Development Processes and Applications (e.g., New Product/Service Innovation, Partner Collaboration, Real-Time Data & AI)

Today we are witnessing a convergence of new IT capabilities and modern medicine knowledge and practices. Innovations in products and services, however, can be hindered by existing healthcare system structures and stakeholders.  For example, in the U.S., the adoption of telemedicine applications for diagnosis, monitoring, and disease management has been constrained by state licensing of physicians and the lack of public and private insurance coverage for delivering telehealth services to patients. The course materials will provide case examples of successful initiatives that have leveraged newer technologies using wired or wireless communications, as well as insights into the facilitators and inhibitors for a specific type of initiative. New frontiers in artificial intelligence as well as new mechanisms for forging closer links with medical scientists, healthcare providers, and patient profiles will also be explored.

5. Patient-Centric Medicine

Advances in health technologies and data management are facilitating new diagnostic and treatment options driven by data analytics and cognitive computing. Providers can now leverage vast amounts of patient data gathered from a variety of sources to determine the clinical value of specific treatments and how to make them better. Payers, providers and pharmacy retailers alike are realizing that new business models are possible which are attractive to consumers/patients, employers/employees and fulfill the incentives of government motivators. Remote patient monitoring, point of care diagnostics and telemedicine allow for patient’s to receive feedback on their own health trends, while providing daily status feeds of key biometrics to centralized clinical centers.

Topics include Medication and Therapeutic Regimen Adherence, mHealth and Telehealth Concepts, Employee Wellness Programs, Gamification Techniques, Patient-Centered Medicine and Pharmaceutical Brands, Patient-Centered Medicine in Clinical Trials, Patient-Centered Medicine for Payers and Providers, and Patient-Centered Medicine Technology Architecture.

As healthcare organizations accelerate the digital transformation of their industry, they are focusing their investments in leveraging information technology to improve patient outcomes, improve the quality and safety of care delivery, and lower overall costs. In today’s highly regulated, increasingly resource-constrained, and cost-focused environment it is essential to understand how to effectively and efficiently manage an organization’s information technology (IT) resources. There are numerous strategic, tactical, and operational choices to be made about managing Health IT resources and it is essential to ensure that IT and non-IT executives across the organization work in harmony.

Experience has made it clear that healthcare organizations need well-conceived organizational structures, skills, processes, and decision rights to ensure that IT investments are appropriately leveraged across the organization, especially when considering the impact of emerging information technologies. 

This course prepares healthcare executives/professionals by providing a comprehensive understanding of the fundamental decisions related to the management of IT resources in the healthcare environment. The course will also provide an overview of current and future relevant healthcare information technologies and their potential impact on patients, healthcare organizations and associated stakeholders.

The course is designed to be delivered live/synchronously (face-to-face or online) with a total of twenty (20) contact hours. While the schedule is flexible, it is usually delivered in approximately ten (10) 2-hour modules/lectures/sessions.

The IT-Healthcare topics include:

• Deriving IT-business strategies
• Considerations for types of
• organizational structure
• sourcing
• governance (i.e., decision-making and decision rights)
• roles/responsibilities
• processes
• Leverage emerging digital technologies
• The business value of IT
• The definition, concepts, and contexts of Health IT
• Enhancing business-IT alignment