How German hospitals govern IT - An empirical study

Health care services in German hospitals are causing immense expenses. Successful IT Governance might help to support specific challenges for every organization with an adequate use of IT. The market structure of hospitals in Germany is very heterogeneous, e.g. in size and sponsorship. This paper analyses the state of the art of IT Governance based on a survey among 220 IT executives in German hospitals. The quantitative analyses of collected survey data reveal that hospitals govern their IT differently according to size and sponsorship. In addition, our analyses show that decision-making authority for the IT budget rises with hospital size and is positively correlated with the fraction of IT projects in the overall IT budget. We also show that the investments in innovative IT projects increase with hospital size. Our study revealed that a high number of private and larger hospitals lack a systematic IT Governance approach within the decision domain on IT projects. This study is the first to shed light into the empirical situation of IT Governance in German hospitals.

[1]  Wim Van Grembergen.  Introduction to the Minitrack "IT Governance and Its Mechanisms" , 2007, HICSS.

[2]  Linda Little,et al.  E-health , 2008, BCS HCI.

[3]  R. Nahm,et al.  Measurement of the effects of an integrated, point-of-care computer system on quality of nursing documentation and patient satisfaction. , 2000, Computers in nursing.

[4]  U. Reinhardt,et al.  Health care spending and use of information technology in OECD countries. , 2006, Health affairs.

[5]  P. Weill,et al.  IT Governance , 2017 .

[6]  Robert M. Crane,et al.  Fulfilling the Potential of Clinical Information Systems , 2003 .

[7]  Jan Marco Leimeister,et al.  A cross-national comparison of perceived strategic importance of RFID for CIOs in Germany and Italy , 2009, Int. J. Inf. Manag..

[8]  Peter Weill,et al.  Don't Just Lead, Govern: How Top-Performing Firms Govern IT , 2004, MIS Q. Executive.

[9]  Jan Marco Leimeister,et al.  Wahrgenommener Wert von IT in Krankenhäusern - Eine empirische Studie , 2009 .

[10]  Ron Borzekowski.  Measuring the Cost Impact of Hospital Information Systems: 1987-1994 , 2002, Journal of health economics.

[11]  Michael A Sachs.  Transforming the Health System from the Inside Out , 2005, Frontiers of health services management.

[12]  Blake Ives,et al.  Review: IT-Dependent Strategic Initiatives and Sustained Competitive Advantage: A Review and Synthesis of the Literature , 2005, MIS Q..

[13]  Jan Marco Leimeister,et al.  Do virtual communities matter for the social support of patients?: Antecedents and effects of virtual relationships in online communities , 2008, Inf. Technol. People.

[14]  M. Apkon,et al.  Impact of an electronic information system on physician workflow and data collection in the intensive care unit , 2001, Intensive Care Medicine.

[15]  Jan Marco Leimeister,et al.  Mobile IT-Systeme im Gesundheitswesen, mobile Systeme für Patienten , 2005, HMD Prax. Wirtsch..