When it comes to information systems, too often the blind lead the blind

Area of Science:

• Health Care Management
• Information Technology in Healthcare
• Health Economics

Background:

• Effective decision-making in healthcare systems relies on accurate cost information.
• Managed care contracts require profitability analysis for financial health.
• Current benchmarking practices may limit access to competitive data.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess the capability of health care systems' chief information officers (CIOs) in collecting necessary cost information.
• To identify the extent to which healthcare organizations can determine the profitability of managed care contracts.
• To evaluate current benchmarking strategies and explore the need for broader industry comparisons.

Main Methods:

• Survey of chief information officers (CIOs) in health care systems.
• Analysis of self-reported capabilities in cost data collection and contract profitability assessment.
• Examination of benchmarking practices, including inter-industry comparisons.

Main Results:

• A significant majority of CIOs (60%) cannot calculate the profitability of managed care contracts.
• Most health care organizations (70%) benchmark internally, with only 8% seeking external industry data.
• Limited access to cost information hinders strategic decision-making for many health care systems.

Conclusions:

• Health care systems face challenges in obtaining essential cost data for informed decision-making.
• Current benchmarking practices are insufficient for obtaining competitive information technology insights.
• Benchmarking outside the healthcare industry is advised for CIOs to gain current and competitive data.