Too Far Ahead of the IT Curve Essay Example for Free

Too far-off Ahead of the IT Curve EssayOver the eld Peachtree had gr bear from a single hospital to a regional network of 11 institutions. With over 4,000 employees and a million patient ofs Peachtrees IT infrastructure has non kept up with their growth. The on-going IT system is not reliable, efficient and secure. The company bursting charge is to give quality, consistency and tenacity cover across the entire network delivered with efficacy, economy and respect for patients and staff. In addition, unlike the health care exertion which go to mensurationized care, Peachtree believes its contract should be on the selective standardization. In hostelry to achieve its objectives, Peachtree needs to keep down its failing IT infrastructure. This could be attained by slaying of SOA establish system since it top hat aligns with the companys business model, mission and goals. Another recommended step is that Peachtree turns toward an incremental execution of SOA. Peach tree should retain what still works and adds value to the company and exchange hardly the almost inefficient split of the current system. Finally, standardizing only certain areas of clinical treatment could impart efficiency and follow savings and at the same time would forgo doctors to make the final call, so the quality of care and patient sentry duty wouldnt be compromised.Current SituationDuring the last 12 years Peachtree had grown from a single teaching hospital to a regional network of 11 healthcare institutions with excess encourage facilities. All 11 healthcare institutions have different size, purpose, history and culture. Each hospital has its own IT system and is doing things differently. As a result, Peachtree is encountering a problem with its incompatible technology that creates many another(prenominal) problems and brusk performance. The consistency and continuity of care across entire network is compromised which is not consistent with Peachtrees goals. In addition, Peachtree current system is not reliable. Reliability is crucial for the company, since the doctors and patient depend on it, and the system is very chief(prenominal) for carrying out the companys mission. Another related issue is that a lot of time and budget goes into maintaining the current system. Thesupport and control of the current system is very difficult, and its not cost efficient.The more Peachtree grows, the bigger that problem allow become. This is not consistent with companys goal to deliver care with the highest level of efficiency and economy. While the healthcare industry has moved towards standardization, Peachtree has resisted. One advantage of the current system is that it doesnt enforce blanked standardization, but provides flexibleness. It gives the physicians freedom to form their own judgments about which treatment to use for which patient. This ensures quality care and respect for patients and stuff which is part of Peachtrees mission statemen t. Yet, many areas of clinical treatment could safely be standardised around best practises without compromise patient condom and quality of care. Moreover, in some operational areas, standard based system could create efficiency, cost savings and higher quality productions.CriteriaIn order to ensure that Peachtrees IT system is aligned with companys strategy to provide quality, consistency, and continuity of care across the entire network delivered with efficacy, economy, and respect for patient and staff, Peachtree needs to consider the following criteria when selecting its parvenu IT system.1. IT system runs smoothly and reliably.2. IT system provides high level of security.3. corpse is cost efficient.4. System is user friendly.5. System allows for selective standardization.6. Clinical information could be completely computerized.7. System allows for tracking of care performance and patient outcomes. 8. IT infrastructure is consolidated.9. System is flexible and allows doct ors to make the final call. 10. System allows for continues improvement.Alternatives and Recommendations1. Implement Monolithic IT System.Pros Allows implementation of standard procedures across all hospitals.Little risk of system failure since costs, challenges and benefits are known.Allows doctors to work together.Provides single come in of systems and applications.Cons Requires more time to implement.More expensive $500 mill +Redesign acquired facilities.Limit doctors independence.2. Move to SOA based system.Pros Allows for continues improvement.Provide opportunities to access, localise, redesign reprioritize along the focus.Quick.Flexible in $ ability to integrate new facilities.Allows replacement only of certain inefficient parts of the existing system.Provides a range of standardization choices.Cons Technology is untested in health care environment.Cost is undetermined.Benefits are uncertain. happen is higher.3. Make a full scale implementation of the new IT infrastructure. Pros If the project is successful it could help the company to achieve its business goals.Cons Cost could be substantial.Risk is high.Project is hard to manage and control.4. Make an incremental implementation and replace only certain parts of the senile system.Pros Minimizes risk.Makes project more flexible.Makes project easy to control.Allows the IT to shift priorities and be more efficient.System dependableness is not compromised.Allows replacement only of the most inefficient parts of the existing system.Cheaper than replacing the whole system.Cons decision devising which peace of the infrastructure should be replaced may be challenging.5. Implement fully standardized care.Pros Easier to support and control. break integration of applications.Lower cost.Cons Could smother the quality of care.Physicians may resist standardization.6. Implement selective standardized care.Pros Allows to standardized certain areas of clinical treatment safely around the best practises and at the same time provides the physicians with flexibility to decide on the treatment which is best suited for the patient.Increases efficiency, provides for cost savings and higher quality products without compromising patient safety and the quality of the service.Cons Could increase cost.Could make difficult infrastructure improvements and coordination.Could lead to very interlacing system.Its recommended that Peachtree implements the SOA based system since it best aligns with the companys business model, mission and goals. SOA based system provides a range of standardization choices, reliableness, flexibility and cost efficiency. It alike allows replacement of only certain inefficient parts of the existing system. It is also recommended that Peachtree turns toward an incremental implementation of SOA. Peachtree should retain what still works and adds value to the company and replace only the most inefficient parts of the current system. This would be more cost efficient approach and w ould provide opportunities to adjust and redesign along the way. Also, by gradually installing the SOA, Peachtree and its doctors would learn about how the systems worked and master it in a sense as the infrastructure moved further. Furthermore, it is recommended that a selective standardized care is implemented. In that way certain areas of clinical treatment could be standardized in order to achieve efficiency and cost savings. At the same time, doctors would be allowed to make the final call, so the quality of care and patient safety wouldnt be compromised.Risk Management PlanSince the SOA technology is untested in the health care environment, its implementation might be risky, but with a proper planning the probability for success is greatly increased.In order to ensure success with the implementation of the SOA based system, an oversight committee must be formed. The committees place will be to ensure that the new system aligns with the business goals and that the implementati on schedule is followed. This will decrease the risk from project failures.Since the cost for the implementation of the new system is undetermined, Peachtree should be strong enough to douse the hit if the technology project goes overbudget. Series of mild, but independent projects could be run which will reduce not only the financial risk, but the risk of businessand technology change. This also will provide opportunities to adjust, redesign and reprioritize along the way. The oversight committee will also play an important role in preventing budget overruns. Yet, if the new system is total failure, Peachtree needs to be prepared to terminate the project.In order to ensure success of the SOA based system, Peachtree must carefully consider how the new system could be best aligned with companys current business practices. The management needs to determine what the system needs to do, which parts from the old system still add value and should be retained, which parts need to be rep laced and which standardized. Again, series of small but independent projects will allow for project flexibility and adjustments along the way. Peachtree could use pre-fabricated SOA module conjugate with customized modules to achieve the most basic and critical functions first. Since SOA allows for outsourcing, Peachtree could purchase a custom built service and focus on modules that best help the company to achieve its strategy. However, Peachtree is in an unique position since there is not pre-built SOA for the health care field. This may result in unexpected cost, but should allow for more customized modules making the achievement of the business goals easer.The health care industry is not competing on price, but its competing on product features, quality of service, delivery time etc. Thus, the quality care is very important for the success of the company. In order to maintain a quality care, the new SOA system must excel at reliability and security. Reliability is crucial for the company since the doctors and patient depend on it. Even a short downtime could be disastrous for Peachtree. In order to ensure reliability the new system should be well intend with respect to force out failures hackers and hardware failures, and based on a single transferable platform to allow for efficient data sharing. By using pre-built modules, when possible, the system could be both reliable and secure. Furthermore, if outsourcing is used additional people would need access to confidential data in order to implement the process. Peachtree needs to look the outsourcing company to ensure the confidentiality of the patients.While the threat of new entrants, substitutes and bargaining power of the patients is low for Peachtree, the bargaining power of the doctors is high. Its possible that the doctors resist the change. Its very important that the capabilities of the new system allow for user friendly interfaces in order to appear to doctors. Peachtree could use inputs fro m the doctors and implement them in the new system to meet their needs.