March 23, 2005
In health care, where IT is viewed as a tool for more efficient or effective operation, benefits are more likely to be gained from cost avoidance than from revenue enhancement activities. This is why organizations often find it so difficult to come up with a realistic ROI -- and why ROI should be only one part of a multifaceted IT decision-making process. HFMA offers some useful tips and tools on tackling this challenge in its January 2005 special advertising section, Envision the Possibilities: Planning For Healthcare Information Technology.
In addition to ROI, planners need to consider other benefits of an IT system installation, such as increased patient or provider satisfaction, enhanced productivity or decision-making capabilities, or strengthened infrastructure.
The table below lists common categories of such values, along with examples of metrics that could be used to measure them.
"Sometimes, even if you subject a project to a very rigorous analysis and the analysis says this is not the best ROI, you have to do it anyway, for intangible reasons or tangible reasons you can't express in dollars," says John Glaser, Ph.D., vice president and chief information officer of Partners HealthCare System in Boston.
SOURCE:
Envision the Possibilities: Planning For Healthcare Information Technology, a special insert published with the January 2005 issue of hfm
Additional Resources
- HFMA Executive Roundtable: Best Practices in Revenue Cycle System Implementation
- HFMA Executive Roundtable: Web-Enabled Billing Systems -- Taking the Vision On-Line
- Stop the Paper Chase! Document Management for Today's Hospitals
- Turning Your Revenue Cycle into a HOT ROD Using Bolt-on Technology (HFMA's 2005 Spring Revenue Cycle Strategies Conference General Session, May 1-3, 2005, New Orleans)
- PEPPER -- It's What's Hot! (Feb. 2, 2005, HFMA Audio Webcast recording)
- HFMA's Resource Guide (vendor directory)
- HFMA Peer Reviewed Vendors
If you have questions or comments about HFMA Wants You to Know, contact editor Laura Noble.
HFMA Wants You to Know ISSN: 1540-0697. Volume IV, Issue 6. Copyright 2005, Healthcare Financial Management Association. All rights reserved.