STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT INFORMATION

Strategic Management information



Strategic Management information

Introduction

Computing technology has already left its mark on healthcare. The diagnostic equipment available today provides physicians with so much information that new specialties are regularly developed to make sense of it. Technology allows physicians to look inside the body without harming it. Computer networks support quality care to patients anytime and anywhere. Still, Health Information Technology (HIT) remains in its adolescence. Even though information management systems have existed in other industries for decades, HIT is still not ubiquitous in healthcare. Certainly, there is a growing business case for the urgent adoption of HIT (Lorenzi et al., 2000, 33-34). The aging population is well documented as is its intensifying requirement for healthcare services. Demand for primary care is also driven by the growing incidence of obesity, not just in adults, but in children too (Hevner et al., 2004, 75-86). Obesity is, at least, correlated to chronic diseases (Feled et al., 2004, 152-156). Chronic diseases require ongoing management, usually carried out at the primary care level of the healthcare system. Unfortunately, the escalating demand for care is not being matched by its supply. Just as patient populations are aging, so too are their family physicians (Cassel, 2009, 17-21). There are fewer family physicians joining the healthcare system as replacements, fewer are choosing primary care as their career and more women (who sometimes work fewer hours so they can take care of their families) are entering into primary care, reducing the overall number of hours available to provide care (Benamati & Lederer, 2001, 183-202).

There are several strategies being implemented to address the supply and demand gap at the primary care level. Primary Care Reform strategies include disease prevention, health promotion, use of interdisciplinary teams in care delivery, integrated and coordinated care as well as the use of HIT (Hevner et al., 2004, 75-86). The naive engineer hypothesizes that widespread adoption of HIT should be effortless. After all, information management systems have infiltrated other professions such as accounting, law, and engineering. Is there any reason why the medical profession should be any different? Soon the unsuspecting engineer realizes the unique challenges of implementing HIT in an effective manner (Gostin, 2001, 321-335). There are a number of unanticipated confounding factors that complicate the adoption of HIT. Privacy, patient safety, workflow and job security implications for staff, time required to implement systems, time required to learn systems, quality of care, financial implications, efficiency, and liability concerns are facets which require special consideration if HIT is to be an effective tool in healthcare delivery (Durán et al., 2006, 65-74). More than accounting, law or engineering, the healthcare industry is uniquely the one where life, or at least quality of life, hangs in the balance of product or service outcomes (Benamati & Lederer, 2001, 183-202).

NHS Management Information Systems

Today's management healthcare information systems have grown increasingly complex and span from purely administrative systems to those that are more clinical in nature and therefore have a direct impact on patient treatment and ...