The types of management information systems used across health care may vary by the setting, but they have in common the objective to streamline and enhance administrative processes and thereby support the institution’s ultimate goal of delivering optimal patient care.

In this Application Assignment, you will explore ways that technology might help address health care management problems with which you are already familiar from past coursework and/or professional experiences, such as issues in human resources, operations, organizational management, or financial management.

Prepare for this Application Assignment as follows:

• Identify a specific management challenge in health care that you have learned about through coursework or professional experience. This may be an issue you have researched for an assignment in a previous course, but it need not be. (This week’s Learning Resources include numerous examples of these challenges; review these, as needed, for ideas.)
• Conduct an online search to identify and learn more about one management information system (or application) that can improve performance in this area. Find out about challenges to adoption that this technology might pose.
• Keeping in mind Chapter 13, “IT Alignment and Strategic Planning,” from the course text Health Care Information Systems: A Practical Approach for Health Management consider the various steps an organization would need to take, and the various stakeholders who would be involved, in planning for this system. What would be some of the barriers in planning for this system?

Then write a 2- to 3-page paper that addresses the following:

• Briefly summarize the nature and purpose of the management information system you selected, and identify the specific health care setting in which it might be used.
• What challenge(s) would this system address? Describe how this system would lead to improvements in particular managerial functions. How would you expect this system to transform the organization?
• What are key organizational barriers to adopting this system?
• Discuss the ways in which this system might align with an organization’s strategic goals, the processes by which an organization would strategically plan for this system, and the primary stakeholders who would be involved.

PLEASE USE ALL RESOURSES AND SITE WITHIN PAPER AND WITH A REFERENCE PAGE

Your written assignments must follow APA guidelines. Be sure to support your work with specific citations from this week’s Learning Resources and additional scholarly sources as appropriate. Refer to the Essential Guide to APA Style for Walden Students to ensure your in-text citations and reference list are correct.

• • This chapter establishes the interrelated processes of strategic planning in an organization and the effective use of IT, both as a strategic goal and as a means of helping an organization follow its other long-terms plans.
• Article: Rogoski, R. R. (2006). Counting on efficiency: Healthcare organizations in growth mode need financial information systems that can accommodate expansion. Health Management Technology, 27(3), 10–14. Retrieved from http://ezp.waldenulibrary.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rzh&AN=2009332856&site=ehost-live&scope=site

  The article examines how U.S. health care organizations are in need of financial information systems that can accommodate expansion. The problem in health care, however, is that the best-in-breed approach taken by many institutions has created a world of disparate systems that require interfacing with other hospital systems.

• Article: Catalino, J. (2010). Software solutions can trim rising costs. Health Management Technology, 31(3), 10-11. Retrieved from http://ezp.waldenulibrary.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=bth&AN=49031761&site=ehost-live&scope=site

  The article focuses on the enterprise-wide solutions in U.S. hospitals use to reduce their costs in March of 2010. It mentions that such solutions have the capability to integrate information systems across the different facilities of healthcare institutions. The author states that some of the benefits that hospital administrators can get from these solutions include centralized key business functions, reduced operational costs and efficient data organization.

• Article: Medical center meets performance objectives: At Mount Sinai Medical Center, delivering critical cost metrics to doctors and administrators was the missing piece of the puzzle. (2009). Health Management Technology, 30(11),18–19. Retrieved from http://ehis.ebscohost.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/eds/resultsadvanced?sid=be17e766-dfb0-4634-b530-5c37973c61d8%40sessionmgr14&vid=4&hid=6&bdata=JmJxdWVyeT0mY2xpMD1GVCZjbHYwPVkmY2xpMT1USSZjbHYxPU1lZGljYWwrY2VudGVyK21lZXRzK3BlcmZvcm1hbmNlK29iamVjdGl2ZXMmdHlwZT0xJnNpdGU9ZWRzLWxpdmUmc2NvcGU9c2l0ZQ%3d%3d

  This article recounts a prominent hospital’s challenge in getting critical information quickly to its health care providers, and its successful efforts at standardizing its reporting environment, which included offering business intelligences dashboards and self-service analytic applications for clinicians, administrators, and executives.

• Article: Charge capture upgrade improves cash flow: While the Kentucky Medical Services Foundation was successful in converting users to the new platform, there were surprises along the way. (2009). Health Management Technology, 30(9), 30–31. Retrieved from http://ehis.ebscohost.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/eds/resultsadvanced?sid=be17e766-dfb0-4634-b530-5c37973c61d8%40sessionmgr14&vid=8&hid=6&bdata=JmJxdWVyeT0mY2xpMD1GVCZjbHYwPVkmY2xpMT1USSZjbHYxPUNoYXJnZStjYXB0dXJlK3VwZ3JhZGUraW1wcm92ZXMrY2FzaCtmbG93JnR5cGU9MSZzaXRlPWVkcy1saXZlJnNjb3BlPXNpdGU%3d

  This article describes steps a health care foundation took to improve the automated charge-capture technology used by their physicians, and technological and human factors that were considered in moving to a new system.

• Articles for this week’s Application Assignment: Browse through recent issues of Health Management Technology in the Walden Library to find summary articles about recent management applications, similar to those listed below. Read at least two of these articles published in the last two years on management applications, preferably related to the area of health care in which you intend to work. These will help you arrive at a topic for this week’s Application Assignment. (Note: The following are provided as examples, and are not required reading. To open them, right click on the URL and select Open in a New Window, or copy and paste in a new browser window.)

Websites

• This website offers feature articles, white papers, and opinion columns on issues and advances in health management technology as well as other related resources.

Optional Resources