Health Information Management: Integrating Information Technology ...

138 DEVELOPING THE INFORMATION STRATEGY
KEY TERMS
■
■
■
■
Information strategy development
IT alignment
Integrated patient logistics planning
Standardized care path
INTRODUCTION
In the previous chapter, we discussed the importance of developing an
information strategy, and we outlined some of the difficulties that await strategy
development in complex environments such as health care institutions. In this
chapter, focusing on the individual health care organization, we will provide the
reader with steps and guidelines for developing the information strategy.
Information technology is recognized by most health care organizations as a
critical success factor in achieving the levels of ambition the organization sets
itself. Given the importance of information technology to the organization, the
choices embodied in the information strategy are strategic choices and thus a
responsibility of the Board of Directors (BoD). The Board should issue the order
for the drawing up or updating of the information strategy, and should chair the
taskforce that takes up this task.
The information strategy lays down which IT developments the health care
organization will occupy itself with in the coming years, which priorities it
implements in this respect, and in what period the developments will lead to
tangible results. In particular, an information strategy is about choices: which of
the many possible and desirable IT developments and applications to pursue,
which to postpone, which to let lie. It should state clearly which IT projects will
be undertaken and how these relate to the organizational ambitions.
This chapter on information strategy development in health care organizations
is intended as a practical manual for the information manager allowing him or her
to develop a health care organization information strategy. The chapter first
considers the aims of the information strategy document and the process of
evolving the information strategy. Thereafter it deals with the most important
themes to be considered in an information strategy. We will pay particular
attention to the first step of setting up the information strategy: how to set the IT
ambition level in proper relation to the organizational ambition level. This is part
and parcel, of course, of ensuring the ‘alignment’ discussed in the previous
chapter.
PURPOSE OF THE INFORMATION STRATEGY
DOCUMENT
The purpose of the information strategy document is to enable a coordinated
vision on the information management of the health care organization. The time