Types of Health Information Management Systems

Health information management (HIM) systems are divided into three different types, which are as follows:

Clinical systems. These systems are utilized for collecting, storing, changing, and allowing access to different kinds of clinical information necessary for the process of delivering quality healthcare. They tend to contain peer-reviewed knowledge, laboratory systems and analysis, electronic medical records, patients history, and other types of data useful for the facilitation of care.
Financial systems. This type of HIM system concerns itself with expenditures and cashflows within the healthcare organization. Since hospitals typically operate using accrual accounting rather than cash payments, a financial system could be used to track these payments and allow a comprehensive view of financial resources owed vs. currently on hand.
Operational systems. This IT product, like the financial HIMS, makes part of the administrative information system. It revolves around managing operational data, such as staffing, scheduling, roles and responsibilities, the availability of technology, and the overall organizational output.

When working on this discussion post, I evaluated the following sources of information:

Empowering the Revenue Cycle in a Value-Based World by HFMA. This article provided a good overview of individual systems and showed how they worked together. It also provided a view on how HIMS will help change healthcare from the current fee-for-service model and towards value-based services.
Patient-Physician Relationship and the Role of Clinical Decision Support Systems by Hassan, Bearden, and Elmi. This article elaborated on clinical data systems, which I used for the summary above. It reflected on how clinical data could be used to improve patient-nurse relationships.
Operational Efficiency: How one management system helped streamline a Michigan orthodontists practice. This article demonstrated the value and effectiveness of operational HIMS in small-scale healthcare organizations. In addition, it highlighted the absence of business and organizational knowledge in individuals with conventional medical education.