Master Patient Index (MPI)
The Master Patient Index (MPI) refers to a database that is kept by health care organizations with the aim of recognizing medical records for patients (Green, Bowie, & McGraw, 2011). The three data elements that are found in MPI include
Internal Patient Identification
The acceptable data for this element include the name of the patient, the date of birth, sex, race, address and email address, ethnicity, the date when the patient was admitted, services delivered to the patient or the specific disease the patient is suffering, and date of discharge (Green, Bowie, & McGraw, 2011).
Employers
This element may show the name of the patient’s employer. This may be important when making payments for medical services that had been previously offered.
Healthcare Practitioners
This element includes information like the healthcare practitioners offering different services to patients.
Patient Name
The element comprises of the name of the patient. The names are usually arranged alphabetically for easy identification of the patient.
Yes, the elements that I have selected meet the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act. This is because they highly support the use of electronic records in healthcare organizations (Green, Bowie, & McGraw, 2011). The HITECH act entails several provisions whose main objective is to improve the quality, effectiveness, and welfare of healthcare. HITECH supports the use of certified HER technology.
The HITECH Act stage 1 is made up of 25 and 24 goals for qualified providers and hospitals respectively. The major requirements are use of computerized order to make entries for medication orders. The practitioners are also expected to maintain an updated problem list of present and active diagnosis.
The three stages 1-3 encourage the use of electronic records. For instance; in meaningful use stage 2, its main objective is to have the ability to submit data for immunizations electronically. The rules in the three stages state that eligible hospitals and eligible professionals (EPs), and critical access hospitals must meet so as to qualify for Medicaid and Medicare electronic health record (HER) incentive payments (McWay, 2014). Health facilities must be in a position to provide electronic syndromic surveillance data to public health agencies and other organization. This has a relationship with to patient’s access and billing functions in a healthcare organization because it will enable easy retrieval of patient’s information regarding their personal information, social and health history. The use of electronic system will make work easier because deductions for various bills will be made electronically.
One of the significant changes made in Subtitle D of the HITECH Act is implementing new rules for the accounting as far as patient’s information is concerned. It provides vital information for patients that are utilized when providing treatment, and making payments for healthcare operations when an organization is using an electronic health record (EHR).
Step 2
The two histories that I have selected are past surgical history and social history.
Past surgical history
Past surgical history may include details of the surgical procedures that a patient has undergone, and any complications that he had if any (McWay, 2014). It may also contain information about surgeries that the patient has undergone.
Social history
This part may entail elements like marital status showing whether one is married or single, occupation showing the specific occupation, living arrangements, the number of children for the patient, a list of drugs that the patient has used, present international travel, exposure to conservational pets.
In conclusion, an effective database is an important component of the healthcare system. It provides both the patient and healthcare practitioners with important information that is crucial in quality healthcare services delivery including their social, medical history and the eligibility to various medical insurance policies.
References
Green, M. A., Bowie, M. J., & McGraw, S. L. (2011). Essentials of health information management: Principles and practices. Clifton Park, NY: Delmar Cengage Learning.
McWay, D. C. (2014). Today’s health information management: An integrated approach. Clifton Park, NY: Delmar/Cengage Learning,