Instructions: Overcoming the barriers to health information technology is imperative if we are to reap the benefits that health IT can bring to the health system. Overcoming barriers to health IT is also important for better data quality and data collection.

Lastly, interoperability is one of the many goals of health IT and is also crucial to achieve to help support quality data exchange. While a range of health and healthcare entities collect data, the data do not flow among these entities in a cohesive or standardized way. Included in this struggle, is the challenge to collect race, ethnicity and language data from patients, enrollees, members, and respondents.

Healthcare organizations have to be mindful of explaining the importance behind collecting such data, in a means to improve upon the amount of data collected. While technology has improved the process of collecting data, some organizations face challenges obtaining the technology, and fact internal resistance when moving towards technology.

Using information from the textbook, the following article: "Improving Data Collection Across the Health Care System" the internet and the healthcare organizations and providers that you utilize, create a 6-8 page paper addressing the following questions:

? What other barriers exist beyond the barriers mentioned in the chapter? List and explain the barriers into the categories of:
? National barriers
? Local barriers

? From your research, what strategies are being employed to overcome these barriers?

? Describe at least two of the sources for collecting and sharing the data.

? What challenges has each of these sources encountered when collecting data?

? The article discusses the importance of ongoing staff training to help improve data collection process. What type of staff training would you recommend?

Source: Improving Data Collection Across the Health Care System. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality: http://www.ahrq.gov/research/findings/finalreports/iomracereport/reldata5.html