Examining Health Information Technology Implementation Success Factors in Critical Access Hospitals.

摘要

As the role of information technology increases throughout the world, healthcare providers in the United States face industry and governmental pressures to implement health information technology (HIT) as a tool to improve healthcare costs, quality, and safety. The problem addressed in this study was the relatively low HIT implementation success rates in Critical Access Hospitals (CAH), resulting in CAH hospitals falling further behind larger hospitals in profitability and viability. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine the HIT implementation success levels at CAHs and attempt to determine if absorptive capacity level and the four corporate culture types (group, developmental, hierarchical, rational) correlated to this success level and determine if these five factors were predictors of HIT implementation success. Data for this study were gathered using a cross-sectional, on-line survey with invitations distributed to 478 senior level administrators at the 416 CAHs. Responses were received from 124 executives with 96 valid participants analyzed. The outcome variable was HIT implementation success and was examined through the study of five predictor variables (absorptive capacity level and the four corporate culture types). Data analyses were focused on (a) correlation testing between the HIT implementation success and the five predictor variables and (b) hierarchical multiple linear regression testing on the effect the absorptive capacity and the four corporate culture types had on the HIT implementation success. Analyses showed statistical significant correlations between HIT implementation success and (a) absorptive capacity (r[96] = .229, p < .012), (b) developmental corporate culture type (r[96] = .379, p < .000) and (c) hierarchical corporate culture type (r[96] = .238, p < .010). The study revealed that the absorptive capacity model (F(1,94) = 5.197, p < .025) with adjusted R2 = .042 and the absorptive capacity, group corporate culture type, and developmental corporate culture type model (F(1,92) = 5.485, p < .002) with adjusted R2 = .124 were statistically significant predictors of the HIT implementation success. Recommendations include increasing the developmental corporate culture type by mitigating the risk of HIT implementation through increased funding and increased information technology training. Further research should include examination of other critical implementation factors in rural hospitals.