SWOT Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats

S.W.O.T. For Community South Medical Center

Needs of Community South Medical Center

The identified strength of Community South Medical Center is that of the array of services it offers and the level of excellence of those services. The weakness of Community South Medical Center is that of its older facilities and infrastructure. The Opportunity for Community South Medical Center is that of the potential of new program development and the abundance of physicians at the medical center. The Threat of Community South Medical Center is that of its lack of interfacing software and the new electronic record data that is being adopted by other medical facilities across the country. The conversion of paper files to digital records is reported as being expensive. There is presently federal stimulus bill funding funneled toward the institution of electronic medical records however, it is reported that this funding will be provided in "increments over a span of a few years." (Gambon, 2010, p.1)

Also reported as barriers to electronic medical records implementation is that of the interruption of workflow, ease of use, performance measurement, and support. (Gambon, 2010, paraphrased) Implementation of electronic medical records at Community South Medical Center would serve to address several of the challenges of Community South Medical Center. The first challenge that would be addressed is that of its technological shortcomings in that electronic medical records would serve to update Community South Medical Center's information technology and the lack of interface between the various system components would be addressed in this implementation. Secondly, electronic medical records would results in Community South Medical Center being more efficient and enabling it to operate effectively with the staff currently employed that are at the present unable to operate effectively due to a shortage of staff.

The large population of elderly staff that Community South Medical Center is presently serving will make the electronic medical records very important because elderly are so apt to forget the medications that they are prescribed and the electronic medical records will track this information and make it available to all physicians that treat the elderly individual. As well, the medical history of patients will be included in the information available via electronic medical records and this does away with the time spent waiting to receive reports from other treating physicians.

II. Strategic Mission and Plan of Organization

The strategic mission and plan of the Community South Medical Center organization from three years ago should be revised immediately and the C.E.O. should address the issues that confront Community South Medical Center immediately. The strategic plan should include updating of the organization's information technology systems with the addition of electronic medical records. This will enable Community South Medical Center to be competitive in today's market.

III. Leadership Positions in the Strategic Management Team

Leadership positions in the strategic management team will include the CIO or Chief Information Officer, the CSO or Chief Security Officer and the Information Technology Management that will oversee the implementation of electronic medical records and the organization's new Information Technology systems. (HIMISS Analytics, 2008, p.1)

IV. Market Trends

It is reported that electronic medical records solutions assist in achieving "paperless administration across the healthcare industry. This form of administration facilitates creation of a centralized patient repository." (Markets and Markets, 2012) The generation of records through use of EMR can be utilized for various reasons that include "…patient care, administration, research, healthcare quality improvement, and processing of reimbursements. EMR is a part of healthcare information technology that is used to make paperless computerized patient data in order to increase efficiency of hospital systems and reduce chances of errors in medical records." (Markets and Markets, 2012)

It is reported that a large growth rate, stated at more than 16% of healthcare IT spending in the United States and the "…government initiatives towards development of a nationwide healthcare information network are expected to push EMR implementation across the healthcare sector in the U.S. As per a study by Harvard Medical School in 2008, administrative automation may result in saving 5% of the total healthcare spending or $100 billion in the U.S. By reducing adverse events such as adverse drug events, medical errors, and complications of interventions including hospital acquired infections. Similarly, overuse of emergency departments and unnecessary ordering of clinical and radiology tests result in loss of $55 billion, which could be saved by implementation of EMR systems at healthcare practices." (Markets and Markets, 2012) The benefits of electronic medical records includes the following stated benefits:

(1) Provision of improved accessibility to patient records;

(2) Improved communication between provider and clinical departments such as pharmacy, laboratory, and radiology departments;

(3) Improved communication among healthcare facilities;

(4) Reduced transcription cost and lesser number of chart pulls;

(5) Improved clinical decision making through CDSS functions. (Markets and Markets, 2012)

The market for electronic medical records in the United States is reported to be expected to experience growth from "$2,177 million in 2009 to $6,054 million in 2015 at an estimated CAGR of 18.1% during the forecast period 2010-2015. Though large-sized healthcare practices prefer on-site/client-server-based EMR systems, web-based EMR solutions or ASP models are gaining higher popularity within the small sized healthcare practices and private physician offices." (Markets and Markets, 2012)