Barriers to the adoption of computerized technology in health care systems

The increased emphasis on national health care plans, cost reduction, and additional recordkeeping has given impetus to the adoption of computerized information technologies in hospitals. A series of case studies performed in large, multihospital health care systems revealed ten important barriers to the adoption of information technologies grouped as follows: knowledge problems, approval problems, design problems, and implementation problems. These aspects were uncovered by using focus studies and interviews with chief information officers, physicians, consultants, and medical staff and by consulting numerous journals in the field. The article describes the barriers that arise because of the special conditions in hospitals and shows how some institutions are working to eliminate these barriers. The strategic issues that should be studied to overcome these barriers are also discussed.