Capital budgeting for hospital information technology upgrades

Capital Budgeting

The aim of hospitals is to measure and improve the quality of health care service for the patients. Patient satisfaction is the foremost concern. However, to run a hospital, there are a lot of other factors are also involved; e.g. managing cost, budgeting, optimizing operations and increase patient satisfaction level. In order to achieve the desired level of performance, the hospital needs to be up-to-date with the latest technology.

In this era of technological advancements, every company has to maintain all their records on computer because it saves time and needs less effort than manual work. Our hospital has digitalized their data but every department has its own data base. In order to optimize the operations, hospital requires having a central data base system.

As Schuhmann (2009) stated in his article that the recent economic crisis has made it difficult for hospitals finance their capital expenditures. The capital assets purchased by hospital in 2007 consisted of 50% on building, fixtures and improvement; 46% on fixed and movable equipment and 4% on land. These percentages vary for government, non-profit and for profit hospitals. So, all the hospitals need to evaluate re-evaluate their capital expenditure and the capital required to grow and compete in the market.

Capital Purchase for Hospital

Information technology has given every industry a solution in the form of well-defined software. It helps the health care industry to effectively cut-costs without affecting the operations. Investment in information technology pays off in the long run. Now, there are software solutions available which are much more than data handling and its features (Devraj & Kohli, 2000) .

SAP® Patient Management is software designed to manage daily operations as well as cost and financial analysis. Our hospital needs to upgrade its software and SAP® provides with the best possible solution.[footnoteRef:1] [1: See http://www54.sap.com/industries/healthcare.html]

SAP® Patient Management

SAP is the world leader in business related software and related services. Its goal is to provide efficient and effective software for all types of businesses. It also provides mobile apps for customers to empower them and make them work proficiently.[footnoteRef:2] [2: http://www.sap.com/corporate-en/index.epx]

SAP Patient Management helps the hospitals and clinics to maintain their inpatient and outpatient operations. Main features of SAP Patient Management are: [footnoteRef:3] [3: http://www.sap.com/belux/industries/healthcare/pdf/BWP_SB_Patient_Management.pdf]

Patient Admission

This module helps to optimize the use of resources while planning admission of patients. This is based on the past admission criteria and helps in time management. By using this, capital can be reserved for specific treatments which are already planned and the non-planned treatments will have suitable positions department-by-department. It allows the staff to plan at an early stage with the luxury of being flexible.it allows the admission clerk to book appointment with only few specifications. It also provides customized options for emergency situations.

Care Unit Work Station

This feature is specially designed for the nurses. It has a user-friendly interface and can be customized. It provides a detailed information regarding patient which includes administrative and medical.

Open Communication

This module facilitates data exchange with internal and external systems by using applications or electronic data interchange (EDI). There is no requirement for duplicate entry. Once information about the patient is entered, it will be available to all systems. This is also a customized feature which satisfies individual requirements.

Clinical Supply Chain Management

Delivering

Approve

Requesting

Buy/ProvideThis module enables optimized use of employees, materials, warehouse and suppliers. If there is a medicine out of stock, then this module helps generate a request and smooth delivery of medicine.

Appointment and Resource Scheduling

This enables the staff to enter appointments from any workstation like outpatient, service facility, physician workstation etc. When appointments are scheduled, all the patient information is automatically available on the system. This also provides access to schedules of physicians, treatment rooms and medical equipment. This is a user friendly module which will enable the staff to search slots for single, group or repeat appointments.

Embedded Workflow

The goal of this module is to provide right information to right people at the right time. If a patient is discharged then the physician is notified as soon as the patient check-out. This synchronizes processes, monitor deadlines; organize the flow of information in the hospital and record history if required.

Comprehensive DRG Support

Diagnosis related group (DRG) is the common system to classify hospital cases into clinically similar groups to determine their costs. This module provides DRG-related work processes. It also provides billing and analysis for DRG and grouping patients from diagnosis and procedure entry in the system.

Patient Accounting

Case-related invoice processing provides all the related transactions and other data required for billing with insurance data, services and case data. SAP Patient Management also enables this function to re-check the data and prepare the actual bill in the form of checks, comparisons (charge comparison) and simulations (test billing). If all the data is correct then a simple mouse-click starts the billing in live or test mode. It runs the live mode then the system integrates this data in the Financial Accounting program.

Integrated Financial Accounting

The automated posting of the invoices enables a quick and easy financial accounting. By using the data of invoice, the financial accountant can determine the insurance premium, revenue from nurse's charge, revenue from private room and many others.

Integrated Cost Accounting

This is a very efficient way to determine profits from individual as well as group of patients. This enables the accountants to compare the costs of each patient and determine the revenue and eventually calculate the profit generated by each patient. This can help the administration determine whether a certain type of treatment is favorable for the hospital or not.

SAP Patient Management software is patient-centric, comprehensive, integrated, flexible, role-based and open. It increases productivity at both ends. It is a perfect tool to increase patient loyalty as well as satisfaction. It is user friendly and affordable. It has a low maintenance cost.

Estimated Cost of SAP Patient Management

Suited for medium size company

All customizations need to be done by SAP

Average implementation time of 6-12 weeks

Estimated Total average cost: $500,000 USD

Impact on Management Goals

SAP Patient Management software will work as the backbone for management of hospital. All the functions are incorporated in this one software. It covers all the aspects of management like human resource, accounting, and finance and supply chain. Most healthcare decision makers are not familiar with the financial aspects, this provides them easy understanding of difficult concepts. Following are the goals that can be achieved through SAP Patient Management software:

1. Quality Assurance

SAP is ideal software to ensure quality. It provides a user-friendly interface for the staff. Since there is no duplication of data, all have the same information; therefore the staff will be able to provide quality service. The early scheduling allows the staff to know about the appointments and make arrangements accordingly. The physicians know the current status of their patients and patients do not have to repeat their medical history every time they go for a check-up or diagnostic test.

2. Employee Development

This is the age of technology. Every organization has moved to new technology in their respective industry. Healthcare has been one of the few industries which embraced information technology quite late. Most of the work in hospitals used to be manual and a lot of man-power was required for that work. But now, it is important for every organization to upgrade its systems and human resources. SAP provides very user friendly software for the staff. It will help them to be efficient and do their work with more interest. When employees have to double check the paperwork, they usually get impatient and do not treat patients in a friendly way. SAP Patient Management reduces the leg-work and allows the employees to enjoy their work.

3. Productivity

As discussed in detail earlier, the main purpose of SAP Patient Management software is to enhance the productivity of hospital. It will help so with its financial and cost accounting module. These will also help determine if the procedures followed in the hospital are profitable or not. The software helps determine profit from individual patients as well. If a physician wants to determine the profit he/she generated from a certain treatment, it can easily be calculated by SAP. Hence, by determining these aspects, decision making will be easier process. This will give a clear picture about decisions regarding the procedures to follow.

4. Less Wait Time

SAP Patient Management enables the staff to plan the scheduled appointments in advance, keeping room for the non-planned appointments. In this way patients who have planned appointment will not have to wait for their turn. On the other hand, those who do not have a planned appointment, SAP will help the nursing staff to place them in time slots available in a matter of minutes. Access to schedule of physicians through SAP will help the staff save time of both the patient and the doctor.

5. Reduce Cost

Digitalizing all the data and having a backup system will first of all reduce the cost of paper and stationary used in the hospital. SAP has a low maintenance cost. By integrating all the departments, functions of hospital will run more smoothly. There will not be a formal training required for operating SAP Patient Management software because it can be customized according to individual needs.

Organizational Goal

In addition to managerial goals, SAP Patient Management will help the hospital to achieve organizational goals. Goals of an organization should be specific, measurable, accountable, and relevant and time-bound; hence called SMART goals. Hospitals rely more on integrated effect of departmental goals to achieve organizational goals. SAP Patient Management will help to accomplish these organizational goals:

1. Patient Care

SAP provides the hospital an integrated system that enables all the departments in the hospital to access same data of a patient. If the hospital uses SA Patient Management then the patients will not have to wait for a long time to see the physician. This software will also enable the staff to plan the schedule for patients as well as physicians. If a patient is to be discharges, then the doctor will be immediately notified through SAP Patient Management. This will enable the doctor to give instructions to patient about diet etc. And make the patient more satisfied that the hospital is concerned about him/her.

2. Cost Containment

Using SAP Patient Management, hospital can contain costs by eliminating non-useful processes. This software is designed to be customized according to the needs of the hospital. SAP Patient Management keeps record of the inventory, so new order is placed only when it is required and there is no extra cost for the drugs which are not required by the hospital.

3. Capacity Utilization

SAP Patient Management has a very well-organized module for keeping record of inpatient and outpatient. This also helps to utilize the capacity of hospital to its most efficient level. As mentioned earlier in the article, SAP Patient Management has a scheduler which enables the staff to make rough sketch of appointments for the day on the basis of planned appointments. The goal of SAP Patient Management is not maximum utilization of the hospital capacity, but it works for the efficient utilization of capacity i.e. maximum result by using minimum resources.

SAP Patient Management-Need of the Organization

This software is not only need of the hour but also very essential for the hospital. Its main features (as discussed earlier) are very effective and will help in every function of the hospital. It not only fulfills the organizational goals but also provide equal opportunity in the form of modules to achieve managerial and departmental goals.

SAP is the world's best software company which provides business solutions for every industry. Although the same kind of software can be bought from any other company, but the quality and shelf life of the software will not be up to the mark. SAP Patient Management requires less time to start up. It provides effective back and front end processing. The backup system of SAP Patient Management is very well-organized.

SAP Patient Management is compatible with all the departments of hospital. It will be equally proficient with physician, pharmacist, cost accountant or finance manager. It covers all the aspects that are essential for the functioning of a hospital. Diagnostic test centers can use SAP Patient Management for keeping patient history and updating the tests and treatments. It can also be used for scheduling and billing of the tests. The procurement department can place online orders and keep record of the inventory through SAP Patient Management. Finance department can make elaborated income statements and calculate revenue, profits, expenditure and other cost analysis by using SAP Patient Management.

Human resource is a very important pillar of any service-oriented organization. The whole concept of productivity is dependent on the competence of human resource. SAP Patient Management helps not only in maintaining records and integrating functions; it also provides a complete schedule of every staff member. So while arranging appointments, the nurses are aware of physicians' schedule and they do not keep the patient waiting for them and arrange the appointment accordingly. In this way SAP Patient Management helps in the efficient and effective use of human resources in the hospital. Due to the integrated system, there is no need of staff members going to each other for any information regarding patients or bills etc.

So, we can say that SAP Patient Management is multi-functioning software which is used to keep all the building blocks of the organization intact. Its function is to assist the staff in handling daily errands as well as perform tasks as big as financial analysis and as small as scheduling an appointment.