A strategic information system for hospital management

Although hospital management teams receive voluminous data from a wide variety of sources, they are unable to distill this data into the essential information they require to make strategic decisions. The objective of this work has been to: (1) investigate a methodology, based on the Balanced Scorecard, which helps managers define and use important management information; (2) develop an information system that makes this information accessible and which provides a context for integrated decision making; (3) investigate the impacts of the prototype system on the healthcare organization.;In this work, we hypothesize that the Balanced Scorecard methodology provides an effective tool for healthcare business units both to formulate their strategic information needs and to manage strategy implementation.;Over a period of four years, we have defined and implemented management systems in five business units in a large academic health science centre. The methodology incorporates a multistep prototyping method for developing and implementing a decision support information system based on the Balanced Scorecard framework. We evaluated the system by triangulating the results of user surveys with themes from a focus group and with illustrative evidence.;Results of our evaluation indicate that the Balanced Scorecard provides an effective tool for healthcare managers to formulate their strategic information needs and is one tool in the manager's arsenal which helps with strategy implementation. The project has demonstrated the value of focusing on a limited number of important indicators. Managers have been satisfied with the information system ease of use and data formats, but want more timely information. The Balanced Scorecard has enhanced organizational learning by promoting systems thinking within the management groups, accountability for specific indicators and focused further data analysis as performance trends suggested deeper lines of inquiry.;As a result of this work, senior executives have decided to transform the research Balanced Scorecards into production systems for the organization. We conclude that our strategic hospital management system has significant direct benefit. It also has pervasive indirect positive value by catalyzing the development of organizational capabilities for linking strategy formulation, strategy implementation, process improvement and performance feedback.