تحلیل ریسک راهبردی برای برون سپاری فناوری اطلاعات در بیمارستان ها Strategic risk analysis for information technology outsourcing in hospitals

Introduction The main objective of healthcare organizations is the diagnosis and treatment of patients1 . Thus, health information technology (IT) has not been considered an essential part of healthcare organizations until recently when the shift has occurred. IT plays a critical role in the delivery of patient care, and therefore, healthcare organizations are becoming increasingly dependent on IT systems [1]. Health IT reduces healthcare costs and medical errors, meets the growing demand for quality care, copes with lower reimbursement rates, makes it easier to collect patient data, and improves efficiency [2-10]. With the recognition of these benefits, healthcare organizations are more interested today than ever before in adopting IT systems. That said, IT adoption is not an easy task for providers. Providers must comply on the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which requires the establishment of national standards for IT transactions. This law made security and protection of patient data and privacy a priority [1]. Moreover, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act requires providers to demonstrate the meaningful use of electronic medical records (EMRs) within a short period of time or suffer penalization [11]. Under these regulations, providers have been frustrated with IT strategies out of alignment with their core goals of patient care. The current environment has placed many hospitals in an increasingly untenable position. Many hospitals have recognized that they cannot build everything internally and therefore cannot ignore outsourcing approaches that reportedly have worked in other industries. Outsourcing can be beneficial for organizations, allowing them to concentrate on core business and customers. Resources are conserved where they are the most effective and reduced where they are the least effective. Outsourcing can lower both costs and risks while improving efficiencies. Outsourcing involves an outsourced organization performing specialized tasks unrelated to the core business to improve production and service related to these tasks. As a result, organizations can expand their flexibility, innovative capabilities and opportunities through outsourcing [12]. Over the last two decades, there has been a rapid expansion of outsourcing in manufacturing and service industries. A notable internal function area representative of the growth in outsourcing is IT services.