Healthcare organizations are recognizing the need for information transparency to drive clinical transformation, but many still lack the tools and capabilities to achieve it, according to a Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) survey.
The HIMSS 2011 Clinical Transformation Survey polled clinical informatics professionals from individual hospitals, hospital enterprises, ambulatory care facilities, and long-term care facilities. Its objective was to learn about strategies that healthcare organizations are using to leverage clinical processes, organizational behavior, and emerging technologies in the current healthcare environment to drive transformation. A total of 175 individuals responded.
Three-quarters indicated that they either had or were establishing a formal leadership team to address clinical transformation. Almost half indicated that their focus was ensuring that their organization had a fully operational electronic health record (EHR) in place. Approximately 13% were linking their clinical systems with quality measures and outcomes, and 9% were installing a computerized order-entry (CPOE) system. However, only 4% reported that clinical decision support was part of their current clinical focus.
Other key findings included the following:
- 78% shared clinical data using a scorecard and/or dashboard
- 58% used business intelligence tools to facilitate quality reporting
- 53% had documented efficiencies and cost savings related to clinical quality
- Almost 75% needed additional IT resources to better report on quality measures; 61% needed more staff and 58% needed more funding
- 35% imported data into a data warehouse or repository
The survey was sponsored by healthcare information systems firm McKesson and may be read in its entirety by clicking here.
