Question 1

According to the Informatics Capability Maturity Model, the degree to which IT is innovatively leveraged to enable leaner processes and seamless information flows represents which dimension?&#10;A) Managing information&#10;B) Using business intelligence&#10;C) Aligning business and informatics&#10;D) Using information technology

Accepted Answer

The ownership of health IT governance, as with other aspects of governance, depends on the institution.

Question 2

What is the first factor in deciding on an optimal health IT governance for an institution?&#10;A) The EHR system in use&#10;B) The organizational culture&#10;C) The size of the IT budget&#10;D) Whether the organization is a for-profit or non-profit entity

Accepted Answer

Of the listed factors, an organization's culture is the most important factor that needs to be considered.

Question 3

Why is it difficult to establish effective health IT governance?&#10;A) Fundamentally, effective governance means that some stakeholders' informatics needs will need to be de-prioritized.&#10;B) There is too much literature available on the topic, making it difficult to choose which approach to follow.&#10;C) So few activities within a healthcare organization involve informatics.&#10;D) No stakeholder wants to have a say in how informatics resources are leveraged.

Accepted Answer

The fundamental reason for the difficulty of informatics governance is that there is more effort desired from informatics than resources allow.

Question 4

The trend in healthcare IT is shifting from what to what?&#10;A) Data warehouses developed by third-party vendors to infrastructure developed in-house&#10;B) IT infrastructure being developed in-house to data warehouses developed by vendors and in-house resources&#10;C) A wide array of decision support tools to more closely defined transaction-based applications&#10;D) Litigation avoidance costs to operational productivity costs

Accepted Answer

After many decades in which healthcare organizations developed in-house transaction-based IT applications, the trend has now opened up toward more robust data warehouses developed by vendors as well as in-house resources.

Question 5

The Informatics Capability Maturity Model:&#10;A) has been overtaken by a newer generation of assessment tools.&#10;B) was developed by a partnership of the CDC and National Institutes of Health.&#10;C) is a qualitative model that measures an organization's capabilities along five dimensions.&#10;D) is intended to be administered by an outside, and thus neutral, agency.

Accepted Answer

The Informatics Capability Maturity Model, developed by the UK's National Health Service, measures an organization's capabilities along five dimensions, rating them from 1 to 5, and can be self-administered by an organization.

Question 6

Why is health IT governance needed? (Select all that apply.)&#10;A) It ensures the alignment of informatics resources with institutional priorities.&#10;B) It effectively prioritizes the use of informatics resources.&#10;C) It optimizes the return on investment on informatics investments.&#10;D) It encourages clinician involvement.&#10;E) It can prevent malpractice litigation.

Accepted Answer

Health IT governance is needed as it ensures the alignment of informatics resources with institutional priorities, effectively prioritizes the use of informatics resources, and optimizes the return on investment on informatics investments. All three reasons are core to the need for health IT governance.

Question 7

Which components are necessary for effective health IT governance? (Select all that apply.)&#10;A) Organizational structures for assessing clinical processes&#10;B) Organizational structures responsible for clearly defining institutional priorities&#10;C) Organizational structures responsible for ensuring that informatics efforts are aligned with institutional priorities and optimally utilized&#10;D) Accompanying processes to operationalize the governance&#10;E) Proper procedures for punishing transgressions

Accepted Answer

Effective health IT governance requires organizational structures responsible for clearly defining institutional priorities, organizational structures responsible for ensuring that informatics efforts are aligned with institutional priorities and optimally utilized, and accompanying processes to operationalize the governance. Though the term used is "governance," the field is concerned with oversight and guidance rather than rulemaking and enforcement.

Question 8

Which factors represent internal and external forces that require effective informatics governance? (Select all that apply.)&#10;A) Increasing demand for decision support and analytics&#10;B) Greater expectations for information access and transparency&#10;C) Clinician demand&#10;D) Meaningful Use and healthcare reform&#10;E) An increase in the use of internally produced, transaction-based applications to support back-office functions and the delivery of clinical care

Accepted Answer

Increasing demand for decision support and analytics, greater expectations for information access and transparency, and Meaningful Use and healthcare reform represent significant issues that increase the demand for informatics resources and subsequently require more effective health IT governance and prioritization.

Question 9

Which groups are relevant stakeholders for health IT governance? (Select all that apply.)&#10;A) Specialists refining clinical processes&#10;B) Institutions working on payment reform and personalized medicine&#10;C) Health services researchers&#10;D) Actual healthcare providers&#10;E) Senior organizational leadership

Accepted Answer

All of these are relevant stakeholders who have a key and generally direct interest in effective health IT governance.

Question 10

Which activities represent dimensions of the National Health Service's Informatics Capability Maturity Model? (Select all that apply.)&#10;A) Clinical documentation&#10;B) Managing information&#10;C) Using business intelligence&#10;D) Aligning business and informatics&#10;E) Cost control

Accepted Answer

Managing information, using business intelligence, and aligning business and informatics are dimensions of the National Health Service's Informatics Capability Maturity Model. While clinical documentation and cost control are parts of an overall Healthcare IT system, these specific elements are not part of the Maturity Model.

Deck 29: Health Information Technology Governance