Strategies for Successful Healthcare Information Technology Projects

Without successful information technology (IT) implementations, IT managers and project managers (PMs) would fail to support their customers\u27 and patients\u27 technological needs. IT managers in healthcare organizations who improve IT project success rates will enhance the organization’s financial health. Grounded in the transformational leadership model, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to explore strategies some IT managers in healthcare organizations use to deliver IT projects meeting deliverable requirements. The participants were 5 IT managers and PMs in healthcare organizations in a metropolitan area of California who effectively used strategies to successfully deliver IT projects for health organizations. Data were collected from semistructured interviews, archived company documentation, and project management documents from PMI archives. Yin’s 5-step analysis was used to analyze the data from which 5 themes emerged: defined scope, defined project plan, stakeholder management, communication, and the selected software development lifecycle. A key recommendation includes adopting agile or hybrid methodology to incorporate iterative development practices into information technology project implementations. The implications for positive social change include a potential reduction in healthcare costs to patients, improvement in the work environment by reducing employee stress related to failed projects, and a possible increase in funding of healthcare jobs and research to improve patient care