Assignment Task:
You are the HIM director in an acute hospital setting. Your facility has purchased an electronic health record (EHR) system, and pressure is mounting to deploy this system as soon as possible by the chief information officer (CIO) and chief of the medical staff (CMS). However, during a test period, you and your team discover that the EHR system does not comply with applicable federal privacy and security standards. It is your recommendation to stop the deployment until these issues can be resolved; however, the CIO and CMS disagree.
Using the AHIMA Code of Ethics, outline your response as the HIM director's perspective to each of the steps as if you were writing the memorandum to the CIO and CMS. Consider the following steps in your response from legal, liability, and ethical perspectives.
1. Clearly define the issue.
2. Determine the facts of the situation.
3. Determine who the stakeholders are, the HIM values at stake, and the obligations and interests of each stakeholder.
4. Determine what options are available and evaluate them.
5. Decide what should be done.
6. Justify the decision made by identifying reasons that support the decision.
7. Implement the decision.
8. Evaluate the outcome of the decision.
9. Examine how to prevent the issue from recurring
Prepare a memorandum analyzing the critical issues in this case and stating a recommendation.