Assignment: Organizing healthcare using project management perspectives

A defined but non-routine function of a health care provider information management department is purging records that are no longer needed. Using a project management perspective, please consider the project of purging older, unused medical records from a healthcare facility or physician office. Materials need to be identified, marked, and properly disposed of, such as by shredding.

Purging must be done periodically but in a very systematic manner. Some essential elements of purging medical records include adhering to state and national standards. HIPAA does not include medical record retention requirements, rather, deferring to state standards on how long records are required to be kept. In Kentucky, for example, records must be kept for 10 years from the last date of service for patients over the age of 18.

You will need to conduct background research on the web or within our library in order to identify tasks and responsibilities related to this project. Make sure to use appropriate citations when the work of others is quoted or consulted.

You will apply the concept to a project involving the purging (or removal) of inactive patient records. Please look up the basic process of purging records from AHIMA resources so you understand the steps involved.

Your task:

This begins your Project Management Plan. For this assignment, write a 2 page paper that addresses the following:

1. Outline the purpose of the project. Write a brief paragraph summarizing the project and purpose.

2. Designate an individual who is in charge of making sure the project stays "on task". Indicate that person by usual title or role. This person will be the project manager.

3. Indicate how long you expect the entire process may take.

4. Indicate what types of staff need to be involved.

5. Indicate the types of training you expect to be carried out during the project.

6. Identify the tasks needed to successfully carry out "purging" while covering risks.

7. Indicate whose approvals may be necessary before carrying out the purge.

8. List the major steps to complete the project.

Background Source:

Marcios, A. (2009, April 28). Moving mountains-- the proper purge of medical records.For the Record, 21(9), 20.

Project Management as a Structured Discipline, Part I - Scheduling and Staffing

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The Typical Phases in Project Management

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Project management is essentially bringing together resources for the success of a project. Resources include the skills of team members; time; communications with the client; and adequate planning and training for putting the new system into operation. Both technical staff who can understand the "nuts and bolts" of implementing information systems and persons with management skills on the "soft" side, are needed to determine what organizational changes will be made to support the new initiative.

What is a project? A project tends to have:

• a designated beginning and end;
• a reason for devoting special resources to a main objective;
• a non-regularly recurring, or one-time only, effort.

An entire discipline has evolved as a result of the need to devote effort efficiently and effectively toward completing an objective. Often, but not always, a "project" results in a tangible outcome, such as a report, or a design, or an implementation of a system.

One key concept is the development of tasks and milestones that can be broken down so that the entire effort may be tracked and evaluated for progress. Just as each week in your coursework, you have tasks or assignments to complete toward the degree; and those assignments accumulate to form a course; then those courses accumulate to form a degree; we can view a Project in much the same way.

The key difference is that most projects generally involve the efforts of multiple individuals. A project manager is needed when the effort becomes large or complex.

Some projects need to be broken down into phases. Just as we have learned that the Systems Development Life cycle includes phases such as the design and implementation phases, so also will many projects have phases.

The Project Scope first defines what will be the limits and bounds of the project. If a project is initiated to design a new meal distribution process in the hospital, for instance, we expect that the project scope will not be expanded to include collecting unit laundry! The expansion of a project beyond its original envisioning is sometimes called "Scope Creep". As the project becomes larger and larger, it thus becomes more difficult to conclude. Changes in scope are to be avoided unless absolutely necessary and agreed to by the contractor.

Planning and budgeting occur once the scope has been defined. This phase provides structure and form needed to determine what types of staff and how many of their hours are needed. When planning, the timelines need to have some flexibility built in to deal with "risk". For instance, one phase may be expected to take 10 days, but due to interdependencies it may be better to allow 12 days for completion.

Monitoring and controlling occur as the project begins and progresses. Just as a general contractor contributes to oversight and coordination in the building of a house, so do project managers monitor the progress of staff and try to troubleshoot as obstacles arise.

Management of finances as well as the quality and risk of the project comprise other areas that project managers attend to.

The Project Management Institute, formed in 1969, has developed a certification process to coalesce the body of knowledge of project management into a set of competencies. Those passing comprehensive examinations can become a PMP - Project Management Professional - or other credential as appropriate to their roles.