The Relationship Between Information Technology and Organizational Effectiveness as Perceived by Health Care Providers

The U.S. Congress has made health information technology a central component of the national quest to improve health care delivery. The problem addressed in this study was the uncertainty among healthcare providers regarding the benefits of health care information technology adoption relative to healthcare delivery processes and outcomes. The purpose of the study was to understand the effectiveness of information technology as perceived by healthcare providers. The research questions were designed to investigate the relationship between health information technology and organizational effectiveness, exchange of information, organizational process, organizational productivity, and direct personal care. Sociotechnical systems theory and Donabedian\u27s framework for health care quality evaluation were the theoretical bases for this quantitative study. Data were provided through anonymous online survey of 116 healthcare workers, and analyzed using multiple regression and Spearman\u27s correlation coefficient. The results of the study showed a statistically significant positive correlation between organizational effectiveness, organizational exchange of information, organizational process, organizational productivity, and healthcare information technology. No statistically significant correlation existed between personal care and health information technology. These findings suggest that providers\u27 frequent use of healthcare information technology, like telemedicine, makes patients less involved. The implications for social change include enabling healthcare providers to develop an efficient and effective way to engage with patients, in order to achieve effective patient-centered organization

Strategies to Reduce Information Technology Employee Absenteeism in the Manufacturing Industry

Employee absenteeism costs organizations billions of dollars annually in losses in revenue and productivity, temporary labor costs, and low morale. The purpose of this qualitative single case study was to explore the strategies information technology (IT) managers in the manufacturing industry used to reduce employee absenteeism. The theory of planned behavior provided the conceptual framework for the study. Data collection included semistructured interviews with 5 IT managers in Maryland and a review of organizational documents addressing nutritional education information, employee participation rates in health programs, and physical activity. Data were analyzed using compilation, disassembly, reassembly, interpretation, and development of conclusions. Through thematic analysis, 4 themes emerged: workplace wellness and health programs, employee engagement, work-life balance programs, and organizational culture. Findings of this study may be used by IT managers to bring about positive change by reducing employee absences, encouraging employment opportunities, contributing to organizational sustainability, and improving quality of life for community members

Factors Influencing the Adoption of Health Information Standards in Health Care Organizations: A Systematic Review Based on Best Fit Framework Synthesis

Since the early 1970s, health care provision has experienced rapid growth in the investment and adoption of health information technologies (HITs). However, the development and deployment of HITs has often been conducted in silos, at different organizational levels, within different regions, and in various health care settings; this has resulted in their infrastructures often being difficult to manage or integrate. Health information standards (ie, the set norms and requirements that underpin the deployment of HITs in health care settings) are expected to address these issues, yet their adoption remains to be frustratingly low among health care information technology vendors. Objective This study aimed to synthesize a comprehensive framework of factors that affect the adoption and deployment of health information standards by health care organizations. Methods First, electronic databases, including Web of Science, Scopus, and PubMed, were searched for relevant articles, with the results being exported to the EndNote reference management software. Second, study selection was conducted according to pre-established inclusion and exclusion criteria. Finally, a synthesized best fit framework was created, which integrated a thematic analysis of the included articles. Results In total, 35 records were incorporated into the synthesized framework, with 4 dimensions being identified: technology, organization, environment, and interorganizational relationships. The technology dimension included relative advantage, complexity, compatibility, trialability, observability, switching cost, standards uncertainty, and shared business process attributes. The organization dimension included organizational scale, organizational culture, staff resistance to change, staff training, top management support, and organizational readiness. The environment dimension included external pressure, external support, network externality, installed base, and information communication. Finally, the interorganizational relationships dimension included partner trust, partner dependence, relationship commitment, and partner power. Conclusions The synthesized framework presented in this paper extends the current understanding of the factors that influence the adoption of health information standards in health care organizations. It provides policy and decision makers with a greater awareness of factors that hinder or facilitate their adoption, enabling better judgement and development of adoption intervention strategies. Furthermore, suggestions for future research are provided. </jats:sec

An Affordance-based Approach for Assessing Effective Use of Health Management Information Systems in Low-Resources Context

Assessing effective use of health Management information systems (HMIS) in low-resource settings is critical to improving public health. However, mainstreaming information systems into daily practice can be challenging in dynamic, isolated settings where technology adoption is often not a priority. It is essential to design tools that address user needs and are deemed useful. In this paper, we propose a generic framework that applies effective use theory and affordance actualization theory to assess how HMIS are used efficiently in organizations and identify areas operational vulnerabilities. The proposed study uses a mixed-methods approach to data collection and analysis. This framework contributes to the information systems utilization literature by providing a method for contextualizing the assessment of effective utilization by giving relevance to specific information management tasks. From a practical perspective, it aims to guide information systems practitioners in low-resource environments in strengthening their digital organizational information systems

Healthcare Professionals’ Attitudes towards Privacy in Healthcare Information Systems

As a result of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH), healthcare organizations are finding themselves scrambling to digitize their Electronic Medical Records (EMRs). A concern of the widespread implementation of digital health records is the assurance of privacy for the sensitive information held by healthcare organizations (Greenberg, 2010; Hoffmann, 2009). There have been many studies that examine patient’s perspectives and expectations of privacy (Agarwal & Anderson, 2011; Cannoy & Salam, 2010) but the literature is lacking analysis of healthcare providers’ privacy perspectives with regards to EMRs. Using Information Boundary Theory (Stanton, 2002) as a theoretical framework, this study seeks to determine healthcare providers’ attitudes towards privacy with regards to EMRs. Analysis of survey data collected from healthcare providers found that healthcare providers do not value patient privacy over personal or organizational gain

Exploring learning in Patient-centered care

This paper consists of investigations into a strategic planning framework for information systems in support ofpatient-centered care (PCC) processes. The planning perspective that underpins the research includes learningtheories, organizational learning and knowledge management in general. A brief review of current PCC goalsand perspectives is used as a starting point for an investigation of PCC activities and support system. Theexamples of existing PCC activities are organized as a learning process and presented in a framework. Sevenmain points of framework includes: 1. Patient understanding and personal knowledge of his/her health situation.2. Facts/information gathering, about the condition that the patient is in. 3. Planning/Formulation of alternatives,based on facts, possible paths of action is planned. 4. Decision-making, including weighing alternatives andchoosing actions. 5. Taking action, performing what has been decided on. 6. Evaluation and record-keeping. 7.Patient interaction with health, either face-to-face experience or supported by technology

A patient portal push toward acceptance and utilization of the technology

Certified electronic health record technology (c-EHRT) has the capacity to enhance person-centered care through online engagement between providers and patients. A driver to portal use is the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) Meaningful Use (MU) benchmarks. Currently, many health care centers and providers fall short in attracting patients to register and utilize online patient portals thus influencing optimal utilization of the EHR. Barriers cited in the literature include lack of stakeholder interest, multiple government policy and mandates, and lack of resources to implement standards for health information technology (HIT) standards in daily professional workflow. This program evaluation focused on a 90-day “Portal Push” marketing and re-education initiative at a federally qualified health center (FQHC). The theoretical foundation for this program evaluation was the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM).1 Goals for this program evaluation included: enhanced marketing and re-education of stakeholders towards portal utilization; assessment of portal MU benchmark attestation numbers pre/post the marketing and education initiative; and evaluation of patients, providers, and clinical staff on portal use as related to “ease of use”, “usefulness”, and “organizational support” through quantitative surveys. Results found enhanced marketing and re-education efforts increase portal registration numbers and use as well as provider CMS MU benchmark attestation. Data reflected an increase in portal user registration and an increase in provider CMS MU benchmark attestation post the Portal Push initiative. Patient, provider/staff survey results indicate a positive relationship between portal use and “ease of use”, portal use and “usefulness”, and portal use and “organizational support”. Results reflect portal marketing efforts by health centers, individualized education of patients, providers, and staff, and continued organizational support with c-EHRT are key drivers in portal acceptance and utilization. Experience Framework This article is associated with the Innovation & Technology lens of The Beryl Institute Experience Framework. (http://bit.ly/ExperienceFramework) Access other PXJ articles related to this lens. Access other resources related to this len

Best practice in undertaking and reporting health technology assessments : Working Group 4 report

[Executive Summary] The aim of Working Group 4 has been to develop and disseminate best practice in undertaking and reporting assessments, and to identify needs for methodologic development. Health technology assessment (HTA) is a multidisciplinary activity that systematically examines the technical performance, safety, clinical efficacy, and effectiveness, cost, costeffectiveness, organizational implications, social consequences, legal, and ethical considerations of the application of a health technology (18). HTA activity has been continuously increasing over the last few years. Numerous HTA agencies and other institutions (termed in this report “HTA doers”) across Europe are producing an important and growing amount of HTA information. The objectives of HTA vary considerably between HTA agencies and other actors, from a strictly political decision making–oriented approach regarding advice on market licensure, coverage in benefits catalogue, or investment planning to information directed to providers or to the public. Although there seems to be broad agreement on the general elements that belong to the HTA process, and although HTA doers in Europe use similar principles (41), this is often difficult to see because of differences in language and terminology. In addition, the reporting of the findings from the assessments differs considerably. This reduces comparability and makes it difficult for those undertaking HTA assessments to integrate previous findings from other HTA doers in a subsequent evaluation of the same technology. Transparent and clear reporting is an important step toward disseminating the findings of a HTA; thus, standards that ensure high quality reporting may contribute to a wider dissemination of results. The EUR-ASSESS methodologic subgroup already proposed a framework for conducting and reporting HTA (18), which served as the basis for the current working group. New developments in the last 5 years necessitate revisiting that framework and providing a solid structure for future updates. Giving due attention to these methodologic developments, this report describes the current “best practice” in both undertaking and reporting HTA and identifies the needs for methodologic development. It concludes with specific recommendations and tools for implementing them, e.g., by providing the structure for English-language scientific summary reports and a checklist to assess the methodologic and reporting quality of HTA reports

A BLOCKCHAIN BASED POLICY FRAMEWORK FOR THE MANAGEMENT OF ELECTRONIC HEALTH RECORD (EHRS)

The rapid development of information technology during the last decade has greatly influenced all aspects of society, including individuals and enterprise organizations. Adopting new technologies by individuals and organizations depends on several factors, such as usability, available resources, support needed for adoption benefits, and return on investment, to mention a few. When it comes to the adoption of new technologies, one of the main challenges faced by organizations is the ability to effectively incorporate such technologies into their enterprise solutions to maximize the expected benefits. For the last several years, Blockchain technology has become a popular trend in a variety of sectors, attracting the attention of many governments and industries. Blockchain technology is a distributed ledger with the general purpose of information exchange that requires authentication and trust. It acts as an immutable ledger and allows for distributed, encrypted, and secure logging of digital transactions after the participating nodes or entities have reached a consensus. Because of the asymmetric cryptography and distributed consensus algorithms that have been built for users’ security and ledger consistency, this technology has gained a lot of attention. Blockchain has enormous potentials; however, as with any emerging technology, several drawbacks may exist and have negative consequences. To determine how the technology may be deployed, a framework is usually required. However, due to the lack of clear national and international standards for controlling and reducing risks associated with such technology, legal and organizational factors must be addressed before the technology can be implemented. The thesis herein is a proposal for such a new policy framework for Electronic Health Records (EHRs) management. Through the establishment of a new policy framework specifically related to Blockchain technology, this proposal aims to achieve the following: first, provide policies to govern sustainable management of the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of information concerning Blockchain applications and solution implementation across health care entities; and second, the prevention and reduction of related information security risks and threats

Organizational factors affecting knowledge sharing capabilities: a study with portuguese health professionals

The importance of knowledge management in the healthcare sector has been highlighted in an attempt to expand the speed of new digital technologies to establish external collaboration, employee engagement, networking, and customer service, providing at the same time new challenges for the overall education system. Kim and Lee’s empirical study, supported on Davenport and Prusak's framework, evaluated to what extent i) organizational culture (ii) organizational structure, (iii) application of information technology, influence sharing knowledge capabilities in public organizations in South Korea. The goal is to validate Kim and Lee's instrument, trying to replicate the theoretical model suggested by them but not fully validated,with 203 health professionals from the Algarve region (southern Portugal). The data were submitted to an exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis with (STATA), in order to meet a criterion-related validity. Results show the effect of "cultural organizational" through the facets "visions and objectives," "trust," and "social networks" on KSC. The variables “organizational structure” and “information technology” provided no statistical support because they were not significantly associated with employee's knowledge-sharing capabilities. Small 7 sample size and perceptual measures are only some of several limitations. Future studies must prepare a systematic literature review and use the results of this first study in order to find out a valid model.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio