Making the business case for hospital information systems--a Kaiser Permanente investment decision

Further evidence in favor of the clinical IT business case is set forth in Kaiser Permanente's cost/benefit analysis for an electronic hospital information system. This article reviews the business case for an inpatient electronic medical record system, including 36 categories of quantifiable benefits that contribute to a positive cumulative net cash flow within an 8.5 year period. However, the business case hinges on several contingent success factors: leadership commitment, timely implementation, partnership with labor, coding compliance, and workflow redesign. The issues and constraints that impact the potential transferability of this business case across delivery systems raise questions that merit further attention.