Hospital Information Systems: are failures problems of the past?

Governments across the world are launching ambitious and expensive initiatives related to health care information systems and information systems strategies that use IT as the basis for improving the health care of patients. Computer-based hospital information systems (HISs) are expensive, e.g. a typical HIS for a large hospital is estimated to cost some $50m, i.e. 140m PLN [21]. In contrast, the benefits that result from an information system - in health care or in other business sectors - have rarely been measured [9]. The National Health Service in the UK has embarked on a huge initiative, namely The National Programme for IT in the NHS (NPfIT), costing some £12.4 billion (70bn PLN) over 10 years to 2013-2014. Hospital information systems have evolved over the last three decades. Has this evolution allowed us to gain knowledge of, and understand, the problems and obstacles of HISs and their implementation? Have we a corresponding knowledge of how to achieve success and minimise failure in HIS implementations? In this context, this paper examines the NPfIT, the problems it has experienced and the successes it has achieved, in order to extract lessons from these experiences that might benefit future information and communication technology (ICT) implementations in health care.