IT Capability for Health Care Delivery

Abstract

In recent years, there has been a proliferation of health information technologies (HITs) that promise to improve the delivery of care. Health care service providers are faced with an increasing push to develop electronic medical record (EMR) capability, which is the ability to leverage health IT to enable and link the clinical processes for an effective and efficient delivery of care. However, there is little guidance in the literature on the performance implications of EMR capability and whether providers should commit to higher stages of EMR capability. Based on data from 1,011 acute care providers in the United States, the findings of this study suggest that the operational performance of providers, measured as case mix index-adjusted discharges per licensed bed, is positively related to the stage of EMR capability. However, the findings also point to a cautionary insight-committing to higher stages of EMR capability may not be uniformly beneficial to all providers. The findings suggest that the choice of the stage of EMR capability is self-selected. Interestingly, if health care service providers were to be assigned to a higher stage of EMR capability (i.e., incommensurate with their idiosyncratic technological, organizational, and environmental characteristics), the potential operational performance benefit of that stage of EMR capability may remain unrealized.

Healthcare IT Value Hierarchy Framework for the Small Physician Practices Context

“…Liu et al (2011) examined the e-healthcare maturity in Taiwan hospitals and was able to show that hospitals with higher levels it IT maturity had lower costs. Dey et al (2013) studied the EMR system capabilities within 1,011 acute care facilities in the US and found that hospitals with higher EMR capabilities had higher operational performances.…”

“…Liu et al (2011) examined the e-healthcare maturity in Taiwan hospitals and its impact on financial performance. While some of these studies (Dey et al, 2013;Jaana et al, 2005;Pare & Sicotte, 2001) have looked at the IT capabilities of healthcare organizations, they did not examine how the organizations have matured through their use of IT. Also, these studies have focused on large organizations such as hospitals and have ignored SPP.…”

IT adoption in social care: A study of the factors that mediate technology adoption

“…Technology is expected to facilitate the cost-effective provision of social care services both in administrative and managerial processes and in care practice (DoH, 2005). Despite the millions spent on researching healthcare IT, the research community has yet to agree whether information systems (IS) will make healthcare more seamless, efficient, patientcentered and safe, or more fragmented, time-consuming, technology-centered, and risky (Baines, Wilson, & Walsh, 2010;Dey, Sinha, IT adoption in social care: A study of the factors that mediate technology adoption* & Thirumalai, 2013;Greenhalgh & Stones, 2010;Petrakaki, Barber, & Waring, 2012).…”

A Multi-Case Investigation of Electronic Health Record Implementation in Small- and Medium-Size Physician Practices

“…Venkatraman Bala, Venkatesh, and Bates (2008) defined anEMR as an "automated clinical system that generally includes data related to medical history, patient demographics, clinician's notes, drug information, electronic proscriptions and diagnostic test orders" (p. 140). In theory, EMRs are designed to follow a patient with no regard for location (Dey, Sinha, & Thirumalai, 2013;Williams & Boren, 2008;). For example, the primary care physician and any number of specialists can review a patient's EMR even if these physicians are located in different states.…”