Transforming the business of health

By Jeff Smoot, Health Industry Director, Fujitsu Australia and New Zealand

The health sector has recently come under a lot of public scrutiny for IT project delays and over-spending among health agencies in Australia. We believe the issues highlighted in recent press reports have less to do with technology and more to do with the way IT projects are approached and managed. In the health sector, most IT initiatives are viewed as point solutions which serve a specific business unit or purpose, rather than enterprise-wide solutions which can be embraced across the business. This is partly due to the fact that in most Australian states there is not a single health authority but a number of fragmented organizations some of which are legal entities in their own right.

IT has had a very positive affect where organisations have approached IT projects as business transformation strategies as opposed to technology solutions, which tend to be approached in isolation or in silos.

The health sector globally has tended to lag behind many sectors in its alignment of IT with the overall objectives of the organisation. In the past, systems such as clinical or patient administration were implemented with only a strict focus on that domain. They were implemented with little consideration of the wider impact on other systems; to the strategic direction of care delivery; to the specific benefits and process change; and of the need to consult with stakeholder groups. 

This lack of focus on business transformation elements contributed to false expectations of benefits, resistance to change, as well as fostering an environment for project failure. In addition, there was not necessarily a high motivation for change within the health industry which wasn’t under the same sort of commercial pressures as say the airline industry, where change determines if you stay in business or not.

Demand for acute care continues to increase along with the demand for greater cost control and further improvements to quality and safety. These combined factors are causing a world wide shift in how health care is delivered. For example, a more focused approach is evolving around managing Chronic Disease cases through identified Chronic Disease Pathways which is leading to more focused individual care plans across the continuum of care. This shift is resulting in IT projects being considered in the context of a broad care-delivery strategy, focused on the specific objectives to be achieved in the short, medium and long term. There must be less attention on particular speciality areas and more on the integrated, overall patient flow referred to as patient centric health care.

By taking a patient centric approach, a patient’s care and wellbeing will always be at the centre of service delivery. This should ensure that the right information is available to the right people at the right time, with all those involved in the care of the patient having secure access to up-to-date, accurate information for diagnosis, treatment and care.

This patient centric approach helps drive and support health reform by promoting disease prevention and wellness; improving patient safety; enhancing quality of care and outcomes; increasing patient satisfaction; and improving cost efficiencies. IT solutions are critical in order to steamline the processes and integrate information across the continuum in order to accomplish this. This facilitates a business focus to IT solutions with defined objectives and benefits which leads to business transformation thus increasing the odds of successful IT projects in the health industry.

In today’s healthcare system we cannot do without technologies therefore, our attention needs to be focused on making our approaches to their implementation work.

Fujitsu is the principal sponsor of the Australian College of Health Service Executives and The Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators Joint National Congress which is taking place in Hobart, Tasmania from 2-4 August 2006.

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