The impact of Health Information System (HIS) effectiveness on public hospital performance (clinical, operational, financial). Case of Jordan.

Abstract

Hospital performance is one of the fundamental tools of assessment through which hospital managers, policymakers and other stakeholders can determine if the investments are paying off. Any investment made should reflect by improving the performance of the hospital. With the integration of technology into the field of healthcare, many hospitals have implemented health information systems with the aim of improving performance. In some cases though, the investment in information systems has failed to pay off due to the systems being ineffective. This research explores the role that Health Information Systems plays on hospital performance, through explored the relationship between Information Systems’ Effectiveness and Hospital Performance. The conceptual framework of this study derived from the Delone and Mclean (D &M) Information System Success Model - which is widely adopted in the IS research - to determine the relationship between Information System effectiveness and hospital performance. Based on a comprehensive literature review on the older and more recent studies the research framework incorporated several new items used by researchers for the measurement of the D&M dimensions. This research study investigates the impact of health information system effectiveness on public hospital performance in Jordan by examining the performance measurements that are effective in assessing the implementation of HIS effectiveness in public hospitals. There is low uptake of hospital information systems. Uptake of HIS can contribute to improvement in service delivery. However, the implementation of HIS is a costly undertaking. Performance measurement of information systems can create awareness of their contributions to improving processes within organizations. Performance measurements can be used to assess the performance of HIS and improve their uptake in healthcare. However, few studies have been carried out with the aim of developing performance measurments for HIS. Creating effective measures of HIS performance and implementation can help sustain existing HIS and encourage other healthcare institutions and hospitals to adopt them. Creating measures that are specific to HIS can improve the accuracy and sensitivity of performance measurement. This can lead to in better measures of HIS performance that can be used in improving their utility. The current practice of using information system performance measures for HIS has the consequence of utilizing general measures which are not specific to, and fail to capture the peculiarities of HIS. The study findings are significant in addressing failures of existing studies and directing practice in performance measurement of HIS implementations. These failures in literature discourage the effective implementation of HIS, as the performance indicators used may not be appropriate for HIS. In this way, the study aids the minimization of the risk of poor implementation of HIS by providing and ranking key performance indicators that existing and new HIS should use. The findings of the study contribute to academics and practice through addition of knowledge to the already existing literature. this study extends our knowledge on HIS effectiveness as we adapted and modified DeLone and McLean's model of IS success to incorporate new variables from recent research. The results show an important statistical link between HIS effectiveness and hospital performance measures. Finally, the study presents, findings from Jordanian hospitals that have adopted HIS providing practitioners with advice for the practices that can lead to possible and realistic benefits.