IT and IS In the Healthcare Field

ABSTRACT

Information technology (IT) has the potential to improve the quality, safety, and efficiency of health care. Diffusion of IT in health care is generally low (varying, however, with the application and setting) but surveys indicate that providers plan to increase their investments. Drivers of investment in IT include the promise of quality and efficiency gains. Barriers include the cost and complexity of IT implementation, which often necessitates significant work process and cultural changes. Certain characteristics of the health care market—including payment policies that reward volume rather than quality, and a fragmented delivery system— can also pose barriers to IT adoption. Given IT's potential, both the private and public sectors have engaged in numerous efforts to promote its use within and across health care settings. Additional steps could include financial incentives (e.g., payment policy or loans) and expanded efforts to standardize records formats, nomenclature, and communication protocols to enhance interoperability. However, any policy to stimulate further investment must be carefully considered because of the possibility of unintended consequences.

INTRODUCTION

Healthcare encompasses a great deal of sub-sectors including pharmaceuticals, homecare, scientific research, and hospitals. However, whenever the word 'healthcare' is mentioned, the most notable images that jump to anyone's mind are hospitals. Hospitals are essentially microcosms of the healthcare system. Inside a typical hospital there are: pharmacies, patient care wards, emergency rooms, administrative services, laboratories, imaging services, geriatric wards, and many more. Thus, hospitals are an excellent representation of the healthcare system(Parente Van Horn 90-109).

Healthcare is an essential service which none of us can live without. Therefore, it is imperative that the system remains healthy and efficient. Over the past decade, information systems and information technology have played a vital role in upgrading healthcare systems across the globe. What once was a primitive and tedious paper and blackboard system has slowly transformed into a digitalized system where paper and blackboards are merely a distant memory. Unfortunately, the healthcare systems across the globe are all different. In the United States, the healthcare system is privately run whereas the Canadian system is publicly run, a fact which Canadians are extremely proud of. Because this system is publicly funded, the system is slowly deteriorating under three ballooning costs: hospitals, drugs, and physician services (Hunt Haynes Hanna et al 1339-1346). Both drugs and physicians are found within the confines of hospitals. This is where IT comes into play. Implementation of a variety of IT systems across a variety of departments and services within a hospital can help address and control these costs.

IT AND IS IN HEALTH CARE

By providing new ways for providers and their patients to readily access and use health information, information technology (IT) has the potential to improve the quality, safety, and efficiency of health care. However, relatively few health care providers have fully adopted IT. Low diffusion is due partly to the complexity of IT investment, which goes beyond acquiring technology to changing work processes and cultures, and ensuring that physicians, nurses, and other staff use it. In addition, certain aspects of the market—such as payment policies that reward volume rather than quality and the fragmentation of care delivery—do not promote IT investment, ...