Technology management in an information age

Healthcare spending in this country is approaching 15% of the gross national product (GNP) while 1.4 million more Americans have become uninsured in the past 12 months. Although we spend nearly twice what some industrialized nations spend, an increasing number of people do not have access to our healthcare system. To complicate matters, healthcare reform legislation has stalled, leaving hospitals without a clear sense of direction. Yet, even without federal mandates, hospitals need to be more cost effective. Reform will occur regardless of whether it is driven by legislation, private payers, or marketplace competition. Successful hospitals in the post reform era will maintain or raise their quality standards while reducing operating expenses. The key question is: How can one do more with less? The answer, of course, is better resource management. To achieve real gains, however, it will be important to think of these resources in new ways. Typically hospitals have focused on managing human and capital resources, and many have undertaken initiatives to improve productivity and preserve financial reserves. But to be successful in the new era, you must define resources in non-traditional ways, then develop new strategies to manage them. This article suggests that technology is a resource that can be managed. A straightforward method for identifying a manageable, representative set of core technologies will be described. Once this informational baseline is established, the costs associated with a hospital's technology infrastructure can be estimated and summarized. Then, "if you can measure it, you can manage it." A template for a four-phase technology management program is proposed.