INTRODUCTION
Timely, accurate, and useful information is a prerequisite for monitoring, enhancing and improving the quality of care delivered to HEC students. Efficient and effective service delivery also requires integration of the needs of external entities such as funding and referral resources and State and Federal regulators. At HEC, formal processes addressing both internal and external informational needs exist within the structure of the Senior Management Team, the Department Heads, various ongoing committees, and the general staff. While the Management Team primarily integrates requests from external sources to Department Heads and Committees, the departmental staffs communicate with their managers via regularly scheduled supervision sessions and meetings, periodic focus groups and surveys, and the existence of a culture of open communication. The HEC staff views the information system resources, whether electronic documents, paper report forms, or the structure of meetings, as a dynamic work in progress that can always be improved.
PRIVACY, CONFIDENTIALITY, & SECURITY
The privacy and confidentiality of student records at HEC is protected by one of the nation’s strongest privacy and protection laws, the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA). FERPA regulations provide stringent rules regarding a broad range of records and information that encompasses all paper and electronic documents in an educational environment. All staff members receive specific training regarding the confidential nature of student information during their initial pre-service training and the general staff receive yearly training updates on this subject. Confidentiality of student information is addressed specifically in the Personnel Policies and Procedures in Section 3.8. The HEC Charts Committee, a standing committee with cross campus and interdisciplinary representation, routinely audits existing charts, communicates procedural policies or changes regarding access to the chart, and facilitates any modification to the structural content of the chart. Although the FERPA standard does not require specific security routines regarding electronic documentation, the Information Services Department has embraced the computer security requirements found in the Health Insurance and Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and administers strict security access and disaster recovery procedures. Given that the agency has business partnerships with many other entities who are required to comply with the federal HIPAA standards we have initiated a plan to achieve full compliance with these standards by January 1, 2012. Additionally, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts recently enacted Statute 201 CMR 17 which contains some the most comprehensive privacy standards and expectations in the United States. HEC, in addition to this Information Management Plan, has completed a Personal Information Security Program and Policy document which is currently under review with our legal advisors and will be fully implemented by January 1, 2011. Copies of this document are available from either the Director of Information Services or the Director of Human Resources.
USE & MAINTENANCE OF INFORMATION
The mission of the HEC Information Services Department is to maximize the utility of existing data processing, collection, and communications systems, to expand the existing Information Management System as the needs of the agency change, to maintain, repair, and replace as necessary the hardware components of the system, and finally to train the staff to use the Managed Information System to the highest levels of competency. IS Department personnel are in regular contact with agency staff regarding the efficacy of existing systems and development of new processes. They are involved in agency wide and campus specific Improving Organizational Performance activities and are directly involved in providing aggregate and other data analysis reports to staff. They conduct training to appropriate staff in the assembly of reports that enhance clinical, management, and financial information-based decision-making.
INFORMATION RESOURCES
All HEC professional and supervisory staff have dedicated email accounts and high-speed access to the global Internet. The Training Department uses the network to regularly advertise available conferences and seminars and the departments use the email network to routinely share articles, opinions, and case management tools. Electronic conferencing is used by the Clinical, Education, Quality Assurance, and Admissions Department to rapidly share critical information, share bst practices and collaboratively solve problems. The Management team has adopted an electronic strategy that enables them to meet and share documents and opinions in a virtual environment if necessary. All HEC electronic services, with the exception of finance and human resources data, are centralized, encrypted, and accessible from any workstation in the Hillcrest Network.
STUDENT RECORDS
Student-specific data and information are contained in the students’ Chart. The Chart exists to facilitate client care, treatment, and services, serve as a financial and legal record, support decision analysis, and guide professional and organization performance improvement. All Charts reside in a designated secure area on each HEC campus. Their access is defined by FERPA regulations and additional guidelines generated by the Chart committee. Student Progress Notes are stored electronically and their access is controlled via a regularly maintained role validation access mechanism. Additionally these progress notes are backed up on a daily basis to an offsite location in an encrypted form. Given that our agency is now a part of the New York and Massachusetts SACWIS systems (CONNECTIONS & Family Networks respectively) and anticipates eventual integration with other statewide automated child welfare information systems, the Management team is currently studying the efficacy of moving to an entirely electronic charting system.
EVALUATION & CONCLUSION
The collection and use of information at HEC is evaluated in an ongoing and continuous manner. Given the fluid and rapidly changing technology environment, the IS Department and Business Office find themselves in continuous consultation in an effort to provide the organization with adequate computing resources that remain balanced within organizational needs and resources. While users of the IS system often provide evaluative comments and feedback on a daily basis, more formal evaluation is provided by the campus based Improving Organization Performance committees. Additional evaluation is provided yearly by regularly scheduled, department specific Focus Groups as well as periodic surveys involving the entire community. The Senior Management Team and the Board of Directors formally evaluate the Information Management Plan every three years.
The benefits of information management systems have placed HEC in a position to provide high quality services to students that were unimaginable just ten years ago. Streamlined reporting and communications systems not only enhance services to students and funding agencies but also attract high caliber professional staff that can focus on more specific clinical delivery when reporting chores are lessened by automated systems. Despite our progress in these areas we still see ourselves very much at the beginning of our technology journey. We are fortunate to have made the progress we have and excited as we anticipate the future.