The American General Hospital (AGH) is in the process of implementing a new Radiology Information System. The hospital was seeking a system that would help with patient registration, patient scheduling, management of department resources, delivery of diagnostic services, management of wait times and billing. The hospital decided to follow a “best-of-class” approach according to its Information Systems Strategic Plan. The RIS project is being managed by a Project Leader appointed by the Information Services Director from the hospital’s internal IS staff. There is a Project Steering Committee made up of the IS Director, the Director of Radiology Services, Director of Finance, a consultant, and a senior client services manager from RadSystems, the company from whom the software is being licensed. The hospital also has an Information Systems Steering Committee (ISSC) that oversees all IS and IT activities. Members of the ISSC are the Executive Director (ED) of Diagnostic and Therapeutic Services, the AED of Administrative Services, the Chief of Medical Staff, the Director of Nursing Services, and the Administrative Assistant to the Executive Director. (Note that the IS Director reports to the AED of Administrative Services). The AGH has selected RadSystems after developing and issuing an RFP. At the present time hospital Radiology staff was busy preparing for the go-live date. They were loading data regarding exams and procedures used in the various sections of the Radiology, entering data bout controls and standards, and trying to learn how the system works. Some of the staff in the Nuclear Medicine area were experiencing difficulties in adapting to the new system and had expressed their concerns to Mark Adams, the Head of Nuclear Medicine. They found a sympathetic ear for their complaints, since RadSystems would not have been Mark’s first pick if he were on the selection team. The closer the project got to the implementation date the more concerned he was getting. The Nuclear Medicine module of the RIS required him to change several procedures used in the department. He felt that his staff should have been given more training and also more explanation of the procedural changes. It probably didn’t help his staff’s support for the project when two of the Radiology techs in Nuclear Medicine were given notice recently that they would either be re-assigned or let go within a few months. The new system did not require the same number of staff as before. Every effort would be made to re-assign staff to other work. Mark has also just learned that a report that he has always prepared before on the old home-made information system that was being replace, was not going to be available from RadSystems. He spoke to the RadSystems software specialist, and was told the report could not be written because the contract did not cover special customized reports. The specialist also said that the report Mark wanted would be very difficult, and therefore expensive, since some of the data required for Mark’s report would have to be brought into the Radiology system from another hospital database. No one had said anything about this report to RadSystems before. Mark remembered being told the new system would do everything the old system did, and more. Now he was worried there might be more things about this system that were either missing or changed, and live implementation was only one month away. He decided to go to his boss, the Radiology Director, Lloyd Perry. Lloyd listened to Mark’s comments and considered what actions he might take. He was somewhat concerned since he had been on the selection team, and he had gone on the site visits. Sure there were some changes in procedures, and yes fewer staff would be required. But he had told staff the hospital would do everything possible to avoid layoffs. As far as the special report was concerned, he told Mark that the IS Director has told him that creating special reports would be “no problem.” The RadSystems system had a Database Management System (DMS) that made all Radiology data available to users who could use a report writer to create their own reports. Mark explained what the RadSystems team member has said about some of the data not being in the RadSystems DMS. An extensive job would be required and there was no way it could be done before live implementation. Lloyd was concerned. It appeared that he was given incorrect information during the evaluation process. What could he do now with only one month to go before implementation? He decided to go straight to the top. The CEO was a personal friend of his whom he had known for 15 years, so he made an appointment for the next day.
Questions
• Identify all the problems and issues involved in this case.
• Discuss and apply processes involved in IS system planning and selection to this case
• Do you have any conclusions and/or recommendations to make?