Introduction
It is important to note that any form of technological renovation in a healthcare setting carries major security, healthcare, and financial risks for an organization. Champion Healthcare is not a sole healthcare unit but rather a network of various hospitals, research laboratories, and clinics located and spread across various regions. Therefore, as a health care administrator, it is of paramount criticality to ensure that all key risk factors are properly evaluated and weighed in accordance with their benefits. The key risks include privacy and security, UI experience, staff training, and patient health literacy, where Champion Healthcare needs to invest in the former two heavily.
Patient Portal Technology
In order to conduct an accurate and feasible assessment of the key points and issues in regard to the case, patient portal technology needs to be analyzed as a whole. A systematic review of the technology found that “2 main barriers to use: (1) privacy and security and (2) access to and ability to use technology and the Internet. We found two facilitators: (1) technical assistance and (2) family and provider advice” (Tang et al., 2017, p. 1). In other words, it is important to understand that privacy and security risks will impact the financial elements in a significant manner due to the higher need to invest in such measures. Another financial risk will be manifested in improving the user interface and experience by hiring proper professionals to ensure intuitive navigation and the use of the technology.
These assessments are supported by another study, which states that “although, generally, the portal was seen to be easy to use, simple, and quick, challenges related to log-ins, UI design (color and font), and specific features were identified” (Portz et al., 2019, p. 1). Therefore, planning for resource allocation on a new project should factor in privacy, security, and UI design concerns as targets for a significant investment. The latter aspect is essential since “patient attitudes were critical as either barrier or facilitator” (Zhao et al., 2018, p. 1913). Another source of resource allocation is an improvement in staff training and health literacy increase among patients. It is stated that “interventions to improve awareness of the portal and eHealth literacy skills of patients and further integration of the patient portal in usual face-to-face care are needed to increase the use and potential subsequent patient benefits” (Hoogenbosch et al., 2018, p. 1). Thus, there are a number of factors that require consideration when allocating resources to the project.
Potential Risks
The four major risks factors include privacy and security, UI experience, staff training, and patient health literacy. The former two are related to the technology directly because they require a direct investment in relevant professionals, developers, and engineers, who will implement the necessary protective and design mechanisms. However, the latter two are related to educational efforts around the patient portal technology, were both healthcare professionals and patients need to become more competent at using the tool. Both major sections of resource allocation are of critical importance since the technology will not justify its costs and risks without the integration of all measures.
The first major derived risk is related to patient information safety and security as well as privacy. The portal is comprised of a database of key sensitive data on each individual patient in accordance with their health issues and conditions. Therefore, any breach of the portal’s security defenses will not only directly threaten each patient’s privacy but also ruin Champion Healthcare’s reputation and integrity as a healthcare organization. The given risk does not tolerate any form of flawed or improper implementation, which means that resources need to be allocated in a substantial amount to install and integrate highly sophisticated safety mechanisms from any internal or external cyber threats.
The second significant risk can manifest itself in a poorly designed user interface and experience because the portal needs to be intuitive and easy to navigate. It will render itself useless if patients do not find any form of value in it. A complex and unintuitive design will negate all of the financial investments made into the portal technology, including security measures. For example, a portal might be highly secure, but it will still seem purposeless and ineffective if patients cannot use it to retrieve valuable health data or healthcare experts cannot insert sensitive information.
The third financial risk is carried by the staff training measures, which are needed regardless of the portal’s design or security. Even the easy-to-use technology requires some investment of time and money into staff training. They need to be educated about the procedural protocols of action and guidelines for the utilization of the instrument tied to the fundamental principles of medicine. Healthcare professionals need to know how to ensure patient information safety when inputting the data, and they need to be aware of security risks because they can become the weak points of the system.
The fourth risk is centered around patient health literacy, which essentially means that patients need to have access to basic manuals on how to use the portal. These documents need to be simple and written in plain language to avoid confusion. All essential functional aspects need to be presented and demonstrated to each patient with minimal time and effort requirements. The given efforts need to be complemented with a superior on-portal navigation system and assistance options. However, it is important to point out that both staff training and patient health literacy improvement efforts are in direct relationship with the UI design of the technology. In other words, the better the UI design and experience of the patient portal technology, the fewer efforts are needed in educational measures.
Breakeven Analysis
Breakeven Point = (Fixed cost) / (Selling price per patient – Variable cost per patient) =
= (50000) / (20 – 5) =
= 50000 / 15 =
= 3333.33. Thus, the investment will recoup itself only after the total number patients using it will be equal or greater than 3333.33 or 3333 patients.
Conclusion and Recommendation
In conclusion, as a current or future health care administrator, the core recommendation is to invest heavily in both privacy and security as well as UI design and experience. A significant example would be ensuring these two pillars of the patient portal technology are established and built firmly. The latter will translate into less need for resource allocation and less chance of failure in regards to the staff training needs and patient literacy improvement efforts. The portal needs to bring improvements to the entirety of the organization in general with a major emphasis on the long-term effects, thus, making the investment worthwhile and justified.
References
Hoogenbosch, B., Postma, J., Ginkel, J. M. M., Tiemessen, N. A. M., Delden, J. J. M., & Os-Medendorp, H. (2018). Use and the users of a patient portal: Cross-sectional study. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 20(9), 1-12.
Portz, J. D., Bayliss, E. A., Bull, S., Boxer, R. S., Bekelman, D. B., Gleason, K., & Czaja, S. (2019). Using the Technology acceptance model to explore user experience, intent to use, and use behavior of a patient portal among older adults with multiple chronic conditions: Descriptive qualitative study. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 21(4), 1-12.
Tang, D. K. S., Bosold, A. L., Choi, Y. K., & Turner, A. M. (2017). Patient portal use and experience among older adults: Systematic Review.JMIR Medical Informatics, 5(4), 1-14.
Zhao, J. Y., Song, B., Anand, E., Schwartz, D., Panesar, M., Jackson, G. P., & Elkin, P. L. (2018). Barriers, facilitators, and solutions to optimal patient portal and personal health record use: A systematic review of the literature.AMIA Annual Symposium Proceedings, 2017, 1913–1922.