Other things to consider while evaluating a hiss

Other things to consider while evaluating a HIS's efficacy are the usability,
interoperability, scalability, and compatibility of the system. The usability of a health information
system is ultimately how intuitive and easy the system is to use through the eyes of the end-user
( Summary of the HIPAA Security Rule , 2013). If the system is perceived by staff to be easy to
manage and requires less work to complete their charting and daily tasks, usability then becomes
an advantage. On the other hand, if a system is overcomplicated and adds more work to their day,
the system can be seen as having poor usability, and staff will be less likely to adopt the new HIS
or not use the equipment.
Interoperability is the ability of information systems to be compatible with each other to
connect and share data (Mastrian & McGonigle, 2021). Providers are having a hard time with
this aspect of health information systems because many HIS are currently not compatible with

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each other. Therefore, they cannot access patient information from other providers or facilities,
making it challenging to go through the continuum of care. The advantage of choosing a HIS
with interoperability, for example, is a patient may be seeing physicians at two different hospitals
where each uses different HIS. With interoperability, each physician at the various hospitals with
different systems will be able to pull up each other's patient's health care records. Guaranteeing
that the physicians would get accurate and up to date information on the patient, care of plan, test
results, procedures are done, and medications were given. Without interoperability, it makes the
transfer of data between care providers difficult, and patients can end up with duplicated cares
done.
Scalability is the system's ability to expand into a more extensive system to meet users'
demands (Mastrian & McGonigle, 2021). For a healthcare organization to grow successfully, the
HIS of that organization must be scalable to a more widely used HIS. An advantage to this
would be if a healthcare system were to merge with another healthcare system, the two HIS
systems would also combine for a new, more extensive system so that everyone is using the new
larger HIS. The more extensive system prevents the newly merged healthcare system from
having to adopt a whole new HIS, thus saving on the cost of a new system or training.
Compatibility is how well software or devices all work together. It differs from
interoperability in that the systems don't need to share information, but they need to work with
the same software. A hospital with two different programs that staff have to log into for charting
and medication administration is an example of poor compatibility. Systems in which all the
programs work within one system with one login have good compatibility.

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A2- Patient Care and Documentation
How will a system affect patient care and documentation?