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For this Case Study, I chose question one.

1. Identify and Discuss the various IT tools and staff resources UHC used to deploy its education and self-management strategies among patients with chronic disease. What are their strengths? Limitations?

Union Health Center (UHC) had the advantage of seeing some of the benefits introduced with the model. One of the IT tools used was patient registries. Through this tool, UHC could find the right information on particular patients to provide the ultimate care. A limitation or recommendation on this tool would be to make adjustments to see data from groupings. Another IT tool was customized EHR templates. This tool was almost uniquely set up for patient care assistants (PCAs), which are medical assistants, and UHC's health coaches. From this setup, a large amount of responsibility was put on PCAs but it benefited overall as they were provided with training. I would like to point out that I admire both the medical assistants for stepping up to the job and the model for implementing the use. As a medical assistant myself, I felt embarrassed for my line of work even though I loved what I did. When I started working as an MA, we were looked down upon by higher medical professionals such as registered nurses. PCAs were able to follow specific steps to help with patient treatment and when there were no other options or instructions, they would follow up with a physician. A staff resource strength was that UHC was able to call upon healthcare professionals within the center or follow up with online-based consultations to provide patient care.

Wager, Karen, et al. "Chapter 14: Health IT Leadership Case Studies ." Health Care Information Systems A Practical Approach for Health Care Management, Fourth ed., Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, California, 2017, pp. 474-475.