Meadow Hills Hospital is a 211-bed acute care hospital with four hundred members on its medical staff. Meadow serves a population of three hundred thousand. There are three other similarly sized hospitals in the region. As an organization, Meadow Hills is very well run. It has a good reputation in the community and is considered to be technically advanced based on its investments in imaging technology. The organization is also in a strong financial position, with $238 million in reserves. Meadow Hills has never had an IT strategic plan.

Information Systems Challenge

The IT function reports to the Meadow Hills chief financial officer (CFO). The CEO and other members of the senior leadership team have largely left IT decisions up to the CFO. As a result, the organization's financial systems are very well developed. Computerized provider order entry (CPOE), an EHR system, and a PACS have not been implemented. IT support for departments such as nursing, pharmacy, laboratory, imaging, and risk management is limited.

The Meadow Hills IT team is well regarded and the limited IT support for clinical processes has not drawn complaints from the nursing or medical staff. The organization does not currently have a CIO.

The CEO has never felt the need to pay attention to IT. However, he is worried that reimbursement based on care quality will arrive at Meadow Hills soon. He also believes that the Meadow Hills Clinical Laboratory and Imaging Center would be more competitive if it had stronger IT support; rival labs and imaging centers are able to offer electronic access to test results. And he suspects that the lack of IT support may eventually lead to nurses and physicians choosing to practice elsewhere.

Discussion Questions

2. What steps should the CEO take to develop an IT strategy for the organization?
4. Are there unique risks to the ability of Meadow Hills Hospital to develop and implement an IT strategy?
6. Meadow Hills appears to have been successful despite years without an IT strategy. Why is this?