Guideline for the Health Informatics Project Option 2: Information Flow and Work

Guideline for the Health Informatics Project Option 2:
Information Flow and Workflow Analysis for Promoting Interoperability:
Electronic Clinical Quality Measures
Assignment Descriiption:
For this option of health informatics project, you must investigate and analyze the CURRENT
information flow and workflow related to THREE electronic clinical quality measures (eCQMs)
data for meaningful use of an electronic health record (EHR) in YOUR PRACTICE AREA. You
will need to write a 10-15 page paper in a scholarly manner (excluding title, abstract, reference,
and table or graph pages).
Objectives of this Assignment:
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) encourage eligible clinicians, eligible
hospitals, and CAHs to adopt and meaningfully use certified EHR technology through the
Promoting Interoperability Programs (https://www.healthit.gov/topic/meaningful-use-and-
macra/promoting-interoperability). eCQMs are tools that help measure and track the quality of
health care services provided by eligible professionals (EPs), eligible hospitals (EHs), and critical
access hospitals (CAHs) in the health care system. These measures use data associated with
health care providers’ ability to deliver high-quality care or relate to long-term goals for quality
health care (CMS, 2020).
The purpose of this assignment is for you to explore the information flow and workflow related to
eCQMs data for meaningful use of EHRs. You will be able to (1) identify and select some
eCQMs reporting requirement for the EHR Incentive Program, (2) investigate and analyze the
information flow and workflow related to the three selected CQMs in your practice area, (3)
create an activity and sequence diagram to provide a visual cue, and (4) identify and discuss the
needs of the process improvements and system improvements.
Suggested Steps for the Project:
1. Review the basics of eCQMs at https://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-
Guidance/Legislation/EHRIncentivePrograms/ClinicalQualityMeasures
2. Review CQMs reporting requirements and select three CQMs that you’d like to investigate. You
can pick them up from either the set for Eligible Professional (EP) or the set for Eligible Hospital
(EH). But you need to select all three CQMs from the same set.
➢ Please use resources in the following links: https://www.cms.gov/Regulations-and-
Guidance/Legislation/EHRIncentivePrograms/eCQM_Library.html (you can find the
relevant tables in the list on this page)
3. Investigate and analyze the information flow and workflow related to your selected CQMs in
your practice area. You would need to address how the data and information pertaining to
CQMs are collected, aligned, integrated, communicated, and utilized for tracking daily operations
in your facility, based on 6 Ws. You would need to address the following questions for your
analysis:
• What are the various sources of input to the process of CQMs (paper, people, information
systems, etc.)?
• Who documents the CQMs, how and where?
• Once documented, who needs the information next, and for what purpose? How do the next
people in the chain of the workflow process know they should be aware of the CQM
Created by Dr. Mikyoung Lee, 2015, Updated 2016-2021 Page 2 of 3
information (someone shows up? a phone call is made? Something appears on their computer
screen?)
• What methods (forms or information systems) are involved in the transfer of data from one
person/department to the next?
• How is the data aggregated? Where is the data stored?
• How is the data used and reported by whom (clinicians, QI department, administrators, etc.)?
• How does your organization review and utilize the reported data?
• How does your organization manage the CQMs data to ensure the following properties:
accuracy, reliability, integrity, timeliness, security, and confidentiality?
4. Create an activity and sequence diagram to provide a visual cue by using any drawing tool (e.g.,
Edraw (use ‘try it free’ version, https://www.edrawsoft.com/), Word flowchart (tutorial video),
Excel flowchart (tutorial video) or Visio (expensive, but you may want to subscribe it for one
month only ($15), tutorial video). Be sure to use the correct symbols for documents, data,
database, data storage, transfer path, decision points, and endpoints.
5. Based on the diagram, describe the needs of the process improvements and system improvements.
6. Write the paper in a scholarly manner (APA 7th format)
7. Referencing in the APA format. (If you are thinking of publishing your work, you may search
which journal might have published a similar topic, using the following search engine (
http://www.biosemantics.org/jane/). You should list all resources in an appropriate and consistent
manner. It would be good to use library management tools (e.g., Mendeley, RefWorks, or
EndNote) so that you can easily transform the referencing styles up to different requirements of
journals; each has an automatics transformation function to change the referencing style).
Guideline for Writing Your Project Paper (maximum potential points per evaluation item)
✓ Submit the paper according to the APA 7th edition style guide
✓ Write a 10-15 page paper (excluding title, abstract, reference, and table or graph pages).
1. Title (1 point)
Should be specific to your focused eCQMs
2. Abstract & Keywords (4 points)
Provide a 200-250 word abstract and three keywords
3. Background (5 points)
Provide briefly background of the Meaningful Use rules of EHRs and the CMS Promoting
Interoperability Program. Provide general information about CQMs and their reporting
requirements. (Recommended length: 1 page)
4. Three CQMS and their Significance (5 points)
List three CQMs that you selected and their significance. The introduction sets out the context and
reasons for why your selected CQMs are so important. You might indicate the prevalence of the
problem/issue (including prevalence statistics), its relevance or cost, its importance to theory,
knowledge gaps (the relative absence of knowledge), some contradictory research, a new
perspective of immediate interest, etc. Secondary sources (books, chapters, or review/commentary
articles) or tertiary sources (newspapers, magazine articles) can be helpful in making the
introduction. However, do not rely on tertiary sources to make your introduction. (Recommended
length: 1-2 pages)
5. Descriiptions of the Information Flow and Workflow of the CQMs (50 points = Narratives
(25 points) + the diagrams (25 points))
Provide and organize descriiptions of the results from analyses of the information and workflow
PER CQM. Also, provide three diagrams (one per CQM). You can provide one diagram for all
three CQMs as well, but you should very clearly depict distinguishable process flows if there
are. (Recommended length: 6-7 pages, excluding the Figure page(s) for diagram(s))Created by Dr. Mikyoung Lee, 2015, Updated 2016-2021 Page 2 of 3
information (someone shows up? a phone call is made? Something appears on their computer
screen?)
• What methods (forms or information systems) are involved in the transfer of data from one
person/department to the next?
• How is the data aggregated? Where is the data stored?
• How is the data used and reported by whom (clinicians, QI department, administrators, etc.)?
• How does your organization review and utilize the reported data?
• How does your organization manage the CQMs data to ensure the following properties:
accuracy, reliability, integrity, timeliness, security, and confidentiality?
4. Create an activity and sequence diagram to provide a visual cue by using any drawing tool (e.g.,
Edraw (use ‘try it free’ version, https://www.edrawsoft.com/), Word flowchart (tutorial video),
Excel flowchart (tutorial video) or Visio (expensive, but you may want to subscribe it for one
month only ($15), tutorial video). Be sure to use the correct symbols for documents, data,
database, data storage, transfer path, decision points, and endpoints.
5. Based on the diagram, describe the needs of the process improvements and system improvements.
6. Write the paper in a scholarly manner (APA 7th format)
7. Referencing in the APA format. (If you are thinking of publishing your work, you may search
which journal might have published a similar topic, using the following search engine (
http://www.biosemantics.org/jane/). You should list all resources in an appropriate and consistent
manner. It would be good to use library management tools (e.g., Mendeley, RefWorks, or
EndNote) so that you can easily transform the referencing styles up to different requirements of
journals; each has an automatics transformation function to change the referencing style).
Guideline for Writing Your Project Paper (maximum potential points per evaluation item)
✓ Submit the paper according to the APA 7th edition style guide
✓ Write a 10-15 page paper (excluding title, abstract, reference, and table or graph pages).
1. Title (1 point)
Should be specific to your focused eCQMs
2. Abstract & Keywords (4 points)
Provide a 200-250 word abstract and three keywords
3. Background (5 points)
Provide briefly background of the Meaningful Use rules of EHRs and the CMS Promoting
Interoperability Program. Provide general information about CQMs and their reporting
requirements. (Recommended length: 1 page)
4. Three CQMS and their Significance (5 points)
List three CQMs that you selected and their significance. The introduction sets out the context and
reasons for why your selected CQMs are so important. You might indicate the prevalence of the
problem/issue (including prevalence statistics), its relevance or cost, its importance to theory,
knowledge gaps (the relative absence of knowledge), some contradictory research, a new
perspective of immediate interest, etc. Secondary sources (books, chapters, or review/commentary
articles) or tertiary sources (newspapers, magazine articles) can be helpful in making the
introduction. However, do not rely on tertiary sources to make your introduction. (Recommended
length: 1-2 pages)
5. Descriiptions of the Information Flow and Workflow of the CQMs (50 points = Narratives
(25 points) + the diagrams (25 points))
Provide and organize descriiptions of the results from analyses of the information and workflow
PER CQM. Also, provide three diagrams (one per CQM). You can provide one diagram for all
three CQMs as well, but you should very clearly depict distinguishable process flows if there
are. (Recommended length: 6-7 pages, excluding the Figure page(s) for diagram(s))
Created by Dr. Mikyoung Lee, 2015, Updated 2016-2021 Page 3 of 3
6. Discussion (20 points)
Please describe the needs of the process improvements and system improvements. Write
suggestions for 1) data creators (clinicians), 2) data managers (IT staff), and 3) data users
(clinicians, administrators, etc.). (Recommended length: 1-2 pages)
7. Conclusion (5 points)
Please make a brief note on your lessons from this project. (Recommended length: ½-1 page)
8. References (5 points)
You should contain accurate in-text citations as well as complete and correct references. Please
ensure that all citations are complete before submission and are no more than 5 years old.
9. APA formatting (5 points)