Answering the IT Value Question

By Sheldon Tyndall, CPHIMS

Investing in a new building, modernizing patient rooms and creating a comfortable place to visit loved ones are expected, consumer-driven investments for health care organizations. The value of these expenditures is easy to understand because they are visible to both the organization’s leadership and its patients.

The value of clinical information technology, however, is less obvious. Unlike a new lobby or parking garage, IT often is transparent to everyone but its users. Moreover, its initial reception from clinicians and staff may be anything but appreciative. Key decision makers and the board of directors may not understand IT and therefore, lack an understanding of its value. And understanding the value of an investment is both critical to making a decision to go forward and to realizing all its benefits.

Basic Tools, Real Data

During the last several years, health information technology has played a significant role in clinical, administrative and operational advancements, from making patient care safer to shrinking accounts receivable days to streamlining the supply chain. And while the CIO and the IT department have earned a seat at the management table, they are still viewed as contributors to the expense side rather than the revenue side of the balance sheet. Questions about the value IT brings to an organization persist.

Ensuring the board of directors understands both information technology and its value to the organization is essential to winning ongoing support. By taking advantage of a few basic tools to assess value, a healthcare organization can provide meaningful data to the board and protect the potential for additional investments.

Surveys: Surveys are frequently used to assess patient satisfaction and initiate process changes and improvements in care delivery. However, IT departments haven’t capitalized on the ability to use surveys to determine how technology investments affect the patient experience. Potential questions might include:

• Was technology used to identify you during your visit?
  
  
• Did the technology used during your visit improve the quality of care you received?
  
  
• Did your caregiver explain any technology he or she used during your visit?
  
  
• Did you feel safer as a result of technology used during your visit?

Once the survey data have been analyzed and reports have been created for senior leaders, use that information to create strategies for process improvements directed at enhancing the patient experience.

Post-implementation review: An on-time, under-budget and problem-free implementation doesn’t necessarily result in improved processes or lower costs. It’s important to take stock six months to 12 months after implementation to determine if there has been any employee turnover. Many organizations face physician turnover through natural attrition. New physicians can place new demands on the hospital, changing how technology is used and supported.

Take time to audit the new processes to ensure compliance. Start by making a checklist of functions learned at implementation, such as patient information verification, access of electronic results, electronic physician signature and other process improvements that drive efficiency but are often resisted in favor of many years of habit. Then, set aside specific time with key operational staff—department leaders and super users—to both assess understanding and reinforce the technology’s benefits. This helps to hardwire behavior change.

Executive steering committee review: Just like an ROI report, accountability after the launch is essential to ensuring that the expected results are achieved. Prepare a brief presentation to the board’s steering committee that documents cost or FTE savings and process and productivity improvements.

External audit of process improvement: Using an external partner such as a vendor or consultant to evaluate post-implementation improvements can be a great way to determine if employees are taking advantage of all the functionality in a recently installed system. Asking clinicians to add IT to the care delivery process requires them to change long-term habits, and constant reminders and support are key to making those old habits disappear.

Vendor application testing: It can be difficult to determine if a system is 20 percent, 50 percent or even 100 percent effectively utilized. Work with your IT to vendor to create a tool that measures effectiveness and enables your organization to demonstrate compliance and a high level of competence.

Policy and procedure review: IT implementation inevitably changes workflow. It’s important to update the organization’s policy and procedure manual to reflect the new processes. External audits, certification and accreditations could be jeopardized if enterprise-level policies and procedures don’t reflect current behavior.

Show and tell: Give key stake holders and decision makers an opportunity to see the technology in use. These demonstrations can be a powerful way to introduce, show off and prove the results of technology implementations.

Today’s and Tomorrow’s Investments

More accurate and efficient business processes, safer and better quality care—IT is the tool that can enable these necessary advances. But like implementing a new system, quantifying its value takes creativity and commitment. Take advantage of some of the simple tools above to collect data about users’ experiences, process improvements and compliance benefits. This information is the key to demonstrating the value of technology investments and ensuring future investments also will be funded.

Sheldon Tyndall, CPHIMS, is vice president of healthcare services for EDI. He can be reached at styndall@ediltd.com.