Preventive care study: a resource orchestration view

Preventive care is identified as one of the most effective strategies to reduce the risk of chronic disease and healthcare spending. Chronic diseases are increasingly burdening developing countries, especially in Malaysia where the problem of rising healthcare costs and decreasing quality of care has intensified the situation. However, preventive care strategies have been poorly implemented and the growing impact of chronic diseases in developing countries remains challenging. A health information system is often cited as having the potential to contribute to chronic disease prevention and improved quality of care. However, research shows that most instances of ineffective preventive care is due to underutilisation, inadequacy and inappropriate use of resources. To further research this area, I adopted the structured-pragmatic-situational case study approach to examine how a hospital integrates resources that lead to information system competencies and information system capabilities in preventive care performance in a unique hospital in Malaysia. Within the context of resource-based theory, I utilised the concepts of resource orchestration and the chain of effect model as the main theoretical lenses through which I addressed the question. This research contributes to both theoretical research on resource development in healthcare and the resource-based theory. The main contribution of this research is the framework of information system competencies and information system capability development for hospital preventive care performance, which holistically incorporates the two types of resource bundling processes and the leveraging process that connects information system resources to preventive care performance. The research also provides lessons about managing limited preventive care resources for the targeted audiences of public hospitals in Malaysia, and hospital management that is currently providing, and going to implement, preventive care