Syllabus

Schedule

Each week starts on Wednesday at 12:00 am Eastern Time (ET) and closes on Wednesday at 11:59 pm ET, with the exception of Week 8, which ends on Sunday. All assignments must be submitted by 11:59 pm ET on the due date. Please review the following schedule carefully for assignments and due dates.

Course Schedule at a Glance

Weeks	Topics	Assignments and Due Dates
Week 1 Mar 4 – Mar 11	Introduction to Healthcare IT and Healthcare Organizations and Operations	Introductory Discussion Week 1 Discussion – Initial post by Sunday, responses by Wednesday
Week 2 Mar 11 – Mar 18	Who owns the data?	Week 2 Discussion – Initial post by Sunday, responses by Wednesday Wearables Assignment – Wednesday
Week 3 Mar 18 – Mar 25	Desktop PCs and Mobile Devices	Week 3 Discussion – Initial post by Sunday, responses by Wednesday  Virtual Computer Project – Wednesday
Week 4 Mar 25 – Apr 1	Risk Analysis	Week 4 Discussion – Initial post by Sunday, responses by Wednesday  Video Presentation – Wednesday
Week 5 Apr 1 – Apr 8	Contingency Planning	Week 5 Discussion – Initial post by Sunday, responses by Wednesday  Contingency Plan – Wednesday
Week 6 Apr 8 – Apr 15	Medical Business, Sharing Information, and Troubleshooting	Week 6 Discussion – Initial post by Sunday, responses by Wednesday  Troubleshooting Screencast Presentation – Wednesday
Week 7 Apr 15 – Apr 22	Healthcare Information Security	Week 7 Discussion – Initial post by Sunday, responses by Wednesday
Week 8 Apr 22 – Apr 26	EHR as a Database	Week 8 Assignment – Patient Journey – by Sunday

 

Detailed Course Schedule

*See blackboard for a complete list of materials and assignment prompts

Week 1 – Introduction to Healthcare IT and Healthcare Organizations and Operations

Learning Outcomes:

• Discuss the current use of technology in society as a whole and in healthcare specifically

Course Materials:

• Chapter 1 in the course text
• Grzybowski, D. M. (2012). Computer-assisted coding and the EHR. Medical Records Briefing, 27(10), 7-10.

Assignments:

Learning Outcomes:

• Determine who owns publicly available data collected from devices such as Fitbits, etc.

Course Materials:

• Who Owns the Data? Open Data for Healthcare
• Banerjee, S., Hemphill, T., & Longstreet, P. (2018). Wearable devices and healthcare: Data sharing and privacy. The Information Society, 34(1), 49-57. doi:10.1080/01972243.2017.1391912
• Cilliers, L. (2019). Wearable devices in healthcare: Privacy and information security issues. Health Information Management Journal. https://doi.org/10.1177/1833358319851684

Assignments:

• Week 2 Discussion: PHI Security

  • Most organizations collect data from their clients, employees, and/or vendors.  While data collection is an integral part of today’s business practice, there are several organizations that may not have a policy in place to address the question, who owns the data?  Using your professional experiences, please share if your organization uses a mechanism to inform clients, employees, and/or vendors about the data collection policy.  Specifically, does the mechanism explicitly state who owns the data?  If yes, please share the verbiage used to deliver this message.  If not, how would you incorporate this language into a policy?

• Week 2 Assignment: Wearables

  • Wearables such as Apple Watch, Fitbits, Garmin, etc. collect data such as how many steps a person takes in a day, the average heart rate, ECGs, and sleeping habits to help a consumer become proactive in their health.  However, consumers do not realize how much data is being collected, let alone how the data is stored. Moreover, consumers tend to think they own the data.  

    For this week’s assignment, analyze the user agreement and privacy policy from one of the major wearable producers to determine who owns the data.  In addition, analyze the user agreement and privacy policy to learn if these devices are HIPAA compliant. Finally, using the data gathered through research, synthesize your understanding of who owns the data if an organization distributes wearables to their employees.  

Week 3 – Desktop PCs and Mobile Devices

Learning Outcomes:

• Identify ways to protect information displayed on devices
• Identify desktop components
• Describe how to build a desktop workstation

Course Materials:

• Ciampia, M. & Revels, M. (2013). Introduction to healthcare information technology (1st ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning 
  • Chapter 3
• Ventola, C. L. (2014). Mobile devices and apps for healthcare professionals: Uses and benefits. Pharmacy and Therapeutics, 39(5), 356–364.
• Watch: Newegg Studios. (2011, May 13). Newegg TV: How to build a computer – Part 1 – Choosing your components [Video File]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lPIXAtNGGCw

Assignments:

• Week 3 Discussion: Protecting Data from Prying Eyes

  • People can often see confidential information on our computer screens without us being aware of it. Privacy screens are simple but effective solutions to protect data that is displayed on a screen because one must look directly at the screen to see the information; anyone looking from an angle won’t be able to see it.

    • Find three (3) other methods to protect displayed data.
    • Describe each method, including information on cost and ease of use.
    • Tell us which method(s) you would use to ensure the data is only viewed by authorized personnel and why you would choose those method(s).

• Week 3 Assignment: Virtual Computer Project
  • Imagine you have been asked to build a fully operational desktop computer by purchasing the required components needed and assembling them. A $1000.00 budget has been set aside for this project. Make sure you include shipping cost and any state taxes. If there are leftover funds, feel free to purchase any peripherals such as a printer, speakers, or software. Remember, the goal is to stay at $1000.00 or under, so do not overspend!
    • The table should contain the make, model and price of each item. The total price should appear in the final row of your table.
    • Your reflection should include a detailed summary to explain why you selected each component and how they are compatible with one another; you should also state whether or not you think building a PC is a good investment for your organization, or if you believe purchasing a system from a manufacturer would be better. 

Week 4 – Risk Analysis

Learning Outcomes:

• Identify threats to electronic health records
• Perform a risk analysis to protect electronic health records

Course Materials:

• The Role of Risk Assessments in Health Care
• Risk Management in EHR Implementation
• Guidance on Risk Analyst
• Security 101 – Security Risk Analyst

Assignments:

• Week 4 Discussion: Data Confidentiality

  • Data security in healthcare is a critical item that should be on the forefront of every technology professional.  In addition to physical security (controlled access to server rooms, workstation security, etc.), what other methods can be used to protect data in healthcare? In other words, what can be done to ensure the data remains confidential, the data is always available, and that the data is reliable? 

    When responding to your colleagues, please critique the methods to let your colleagues know if this is a viable solution.  If more information is needed, provide a question to prompt the author to add more information that will better secure data. 

• Assignment: Video Presentation

  • You have been hired as an information security consultant. You have been charged with analyzing the integrity of the data system that houses a clinic’s electronic health records. The clinic’s directors would like to have a risk assessment completed to ensure all threats and vulnerabilities have been accounted for.  In addition to identifying all threats and vulnerabilities, the clinic’s directors would like for you to present your analysis to the health board.  

    Develop a 10 to 15-minute video presentation to discuss the importance of risk analysis, your findings, and your recommendation(s) to the clinic’s health board. You will need to do some research about auditing IT systems to learn what types of threats and vulnerabilities can have an impact on networking systems.  In addition to submitting a video presentation, please submit a slide presentation.

Week 5 – Contingency Planning

Learning Outcomes:

• Determine best practices to ensure critical health care data are available in the event of a natural and/or manmade disaster.

Course Materials:

• What Does Data Governance Mean in the Healthcare Industry?
• Data security: creating a contingency plan for data loss
• Security 101 – Contingency Planning

Assignments:

• Week 5 Discussion: Contingency Plan 
  • One of the most important components of a contingency plan is knowing what is contained in the plan.  Sometimes an employee can go their entire career without knowing how their organization will continue to operate in the event of disaster.  With that being said, share with your colleagues if you know what is contained in your organization’s contingency plan. If you have access to your organization’s contingency plan, how often is it updated and how often is it tested.  If you do not have access to your organization’s contingency plan, who has access? How is the plan distributed to your co-workers? Does it exist? If not, what approach would you take to ensure your supervisors, managers, and executives are informed about the importance of having a contingency plan?
• Week 5 Assignment: Contingency Plan

  • Using resources provided this week, and using additional resources based on your own research, create a contingency plan to ensure the electronic health records will still be available in the event of a cyber attack such as a ransomware attack, a natural disaster, and/or a server failure.  

    Prepare a minimum of fifteen slides to explain the contingency plan in detail.  Your target audience is the Board of Directors at Salutem Hospital.

Week 6 – Medical Business, Sharing Information, and Troubleshooting

Learning Outcomes:

• Discuss the use of text messaging in professional situations
• Describe the clinical software troubleshooting process

Course Materials:

• Ciampia, M. & Revels, M. (2013). Introduction to healthcare information technology (1st ed.). Boston, MA: Cengage Learning 
  • Chapters 5 & 6
• Fact Sheet: Managing mobile devices in your health care organization from HealthIT.gov (n.d.)
• Watch: Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT. (2012, December 12). Worried about using a mobile health device for work? Here’s what to do! [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vz1ddGJn1PM

Assignments:

• Week 6 Discussion: Text Messaging

  • The use of text messaging to provide reminders and updates to patients is a hot topic in healthcare these days. Text messaging is one of the easiest and quickest ways to reach people, but there are concerns about security.

    • To gather a sense of how much text messaging is used in today’s society, tell us how many text messages you receive on a daily basis. How many are personal text messages, and how many are for business?
    • What kind of information do you prefer to receive via text? via email? via a phone call?
    • Do you think it is appropriate to send information to patients via text? Why or why not?
• Week 6 Assignment: Troubleshooting Screencast Presentation
• • The troubleshooting process can be distilled into four steps:

    Step 1: The system malfunctions and symptoms are identified.

    Step 2: A list of possible causes is generated based on existing knowledge, research, and/or previous experience.

    Step 3: Additional data is collected and, based on a process of elimination, the causes of the problem are determined.

    Step 4: The solution is tested to confirm that the problem has been solved.

    Read the scenario below and create a narrated slide presentation to describe the experiences the troubleshooter may encounter and to provide detail on how to solve the problem. Be sure to follow the four steps of the troubleshooting process. Create a screencast of your presentation. Refer to the Troubleshooting Screencast Presentation Rubric for submission guidelines.

    Scenario:

    The Superior Care Health Group (SCHG) recently installed a new system for electronically sending patient prescriptions to pharmacies. This new e-prescribing system was working well until recently. Now the system is displaying errors periodically. When this occurs, the prescribing doctor has to call the prescription into the pharmacy, which takes much more time. The new office manager, Braden Thomas, is responsible for maintaining the system. Braden found an error-log file in the system. These errors are perplexing and contain cryptic messages: 

    07, incorSCRIPT error #34rect PVD format

    PProc error #3212, Schedule 1 not allowed

    PProc error #3245, not in formulary

    After spending several hours changing various system configuration settings, the problems started getting worse. He finally realized that he doesn’t know enough about troubleshooting the system to correct the problems. Even worse, he doesn’t know whom to contact to solve the problem, other than the sales associate who sold SCHG the system. When he called that number, he was sent to voicemail. Meanwhile, the group’s doctors are expressing displeasure with his ability to manage the system.

    Use Screencast-O-Matic or another screencasting tool to create your video. When you are done, upload your screencast to YouTube and submit the link to your YouTube video in Blackboard. 

Week 7 – Healthcare Information Security

Learning Outcomes:

• Discuss how human error can undermine security

Course Materials:

• Chapters 7 and 8 in the course text 
• McNeal, M. (2014). Hacking Healthcare. Marketing Health Services, 34(3), 16-21.
• Donovan, F. (2019). Defending Against Healthcare Ransomware Attacks. Health IT Security.

Assignments:

• Week 7 Discussion: Healthcare Information Security

  • Before responding to this week’s prompt, please watch the following two videos from the module course materials:

    • Human Hacking Exposed (Hadnagy, 2012)
    • 5 Things You Didn’t Know About Public WiFi (HowTech, 2014)

    Organizations spend a lot of money ensuring that their networks are secure. However, people can circumvent all that expensive security by preying on the fallibility of an organization’s employees. In fact, human error is one of the top security vulnerabilities organizations face in today’s society. Two ways that an employee might inadvertently allow someone to access confidential materials are by falling prey to Social Engineering or by using insecure wireless networks.

    Please comment on human error as a security vulnerability. Here are some questions that may help you formulate a comment:

    • Can you think of a time when someone you know may have inadvertently provided sensitive work and/or personal information? What were the ramifications?
    • Can you think of an instance when you used your mobile device (e.g., laptop, mobile phone, tablet) to connect to an unsecured wireless network to conduct important business such as banking transactions and/or updating work documents? If so, did you take the time to verify the legitimacy of the wireless hotspot? If so, how did you know that your wireless session was secure?

     

Week 8 – EHR as a Database

Learning Outcomes:

• Explain how data is shared between health systems
• Describe basic networking and language in clinical applications

Course Materials:

• • Verizon DBIR 2019 – Healthcare
  • Universal Healthcare Taxonomies:
    • LOINC
    • RXNorm
    • SNOMED-CT
    • ICD10
  • Healthcare Data Flow infographic

Assignments:

• Week 8 Assignment: Data Flow through the Patient Journey

The purpose of this assignment is to make you aware of how patient data travels with the patient and/or is generated based on events such as getting an x-ray or having surgery.

It’s a major holiday. Your family member is complaining of pain on their left side. This is usually a symptom of appendix issues. Your doctor’s office is closed for the holiday. It is likely that the person will require admission to the hospital and require surgery. Think about the information that will be collected from you and throughout the hospital stay.

Use this infographic to help as you list the pieces of data that will likely be collected throughout the hospital journey. For each piece of data, identify which EHR system and which outside entity may need the information. The first line of the chart has been filled out as an example.

After completing this assignment, look at your table and identify where data may be vulnerable to cyber threats, both internally and externally. Include a short description of these vulnerabilities (1 paragraph). 

Student Resources

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• https://www.apastyle.org

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• MSIN Databases: https://library.une.edu/library-materials/find/research-by-subject/health-informatics/
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• UNE Student Academic Success Center

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Policies

Technology Requirements

Please review the technical requirements for UNE Online Graduate Programs: Technical Requirements

Turnitin Originality Check and Plagiarism Detection Tool

The College of Professional Studies uses Turnitin to help deter plagiarism and to foster the proper attribution of sources. Turnitin provides comparative reports for submitted assignments that reflect similarities in other written works. This can include, but is not limited to, previously submitted assignments, internet articles, research journals, and academic databases.

Make sure to cite your sources appropriately as well as use your own words in synthesizing information from published literature. Webinars and workshops, included early in your coursework, will help guide best practices in APA citation and academic writing.

You can learn more about Turnitin in the Turnitin Student quick start guide.

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Course Evaluation Policy

Course surveys are one of the most important tools that University of New England uses for evaluating the quality of your education, and for providing meaningful feedback to instructors on their teaching. In order to assure that the feedback is both comprehensive and precise, we need to receive it from each student for each course. Evaluation access is distributed via UNE email at the beginning of the last week of the course.

Attendance Policy

Online students are required to submit a graded assignment/discussion prior to Sunday evening at 11:59 pm ET of the first week of the term. If a student does not submit a posting to the graded assignment/discussion prior to Sunday evening at 11:59 pm ET, the student will be automatically dropped from the course for non-participation. Review the full attendance policy.

Late Policy

Assignments: Late assignments will be accepted up to 3 days late; however, there is a 10% grade reduction (from the total points) for the late submission. After three days the assignment will not be accepted.

Discussion posts: If the initial post is submitted late, but still within the discussion board week, there will be a 10% grade reduction from the total discussion grade (e.g., a 3 point discussion will be reduced by 0.3 points). Any posts submitted after the end of the Discussion Board week will not be graded.

Please make every effort ahead of time to contact your instructor and your student support specialist if you are not able to meet an assignment deadline. Arrangements for extenuating circumstances may be considered by faculty.

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UNE Online Student Handbook

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Please contact your student support specialist if you are considering dropping or withdrawing from a course. The last day to drop for 100% tuition refund is the 2nd day of the course. Financial Aid charges may still apply. Students using Financial Aid should contact the Financial Aid Office prior to withdrawing from a course.

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The University of New England values academic integrity in all aspects of the educational experience. Academic dishonesty in any form undermines this standard and devalues the original contributions of others. It is the responsibility of all members of the University community to actively uphold the integrity of the academy; failure to act, for any reason, is not acceptable. For information about plagiarism and academic misconduct, please visit UNE Plagiarism Policies.

Academic dishonesty includes, but is not limited to the following:

1. Cheating, copying, or the offering or receiving of unauthorized assistance or information.
2. Fabrication or falsification of data, results, or sources for papers or reports.
3. Action which destroys or alters the work of another student.
4. Multiple submissions of the same paper or report for assignments in more than one course without permission of each instructor.
5. Plagiarism, the appropriation of records, research, materials, ideas, or the language of other persons or writers and the submission of them as one's own.

Charges of academic dishonesty will be reviewed by the Program Director. Penalties for students found responsible for violations may depend upon the seriousness and circumstances of the violation, the degree of premeditation involved, and/or the student’s previous record of violations.  Appeal of a decision may be made to the Dean whose decision will be final.  Student appeals will take place through the grievance process outlined in the student handbook.