This paper examines the process by which healthcare organizations select and acquire an Information System (IS), with particular emphasis on Electronic Patient Records (EPR) as the foundation of any computerized medical system. It outlines the key criteria driving IS selection — including patient care documentation, communication, legal recordkeeping, billing, and research — and explains how outcome measures and balanced scorecards guide evaluation. The paper also addresses how organizational goals shape IS design and team-based care support, and discusses the critical roles that multiple stakeholders, including physicians, nurses, and management, play throughout the pre-implementation and implementation stages to ensure successful adoption.
Any medical organization planning to adopt an Information System (IS) must first choose an efficient Electronic Patient Record (EPR), which serves as the starting point of any computerized system. The effectiveness of the following points must drive the process of IS selection and acquisition:
(i) Patient care: This refers to the documented record of every patient undergoing treatment at the medical care unit. (ii) Communication: Patient records constitute an important means through which doctors, nurses, and other staff are able to communicate with one another regarding patient requirements. (iii) Legal documentation: Legal documentation is important because it keeps track of and documents care as well as treatment, and can become part of legal records. (iv) Billing and reimbursement: Patient records deliver the documentation used by patients to verify billed services. (v) Research and quality management: Patient records are used in many facilities for research purposes and for assessing the quality of care being provided. Hence, the importance of maintaining exhaustive and precise patient records is indispensable. The other guiding factors for the selection process are outcome measures and the balanced scorecard (Wager, Lee, & Glaser, 2009).
It is important to align comparative data and information with an organization's quality improvement endeavors. For instance, an organization might collect data on specific outcome measures and thereafter make use of this information in a benchmarking process. An outcome measure constitutes the measurable result of a process — whether clinical, such as a particular treatment, or administrative, such as a claim filing. Outcome measures can therefore be applied to individuals or groups. An effective Electronic Medical Record (EMR) must be able to report the percentage of similar lab results occurring within a given month for a specific medical group.
The Balanced Scorecard is one more procedure for measuring healthcare performance in organizations. Balanced scorecard systems examine multiple measures rather than a single set of measures common in conventional benchmarking (Wager, Lee, & Glaser, 2009). This broader, multi-dimensional approach makes it particularly well suited for evaluating the complex performance requirements of healthcare information systems.
"Team-based care and contextual IS evaluation goals"
"Stakeholder involvement and software selection for success"
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