ComprehensiveCare and the Stalled Adoption of an Electronic Health Records System: IT Governance and Employee Succession

Authors

David L. Gomillion, Texas A&M University

Abstract

ComprehensiveCare, a multi-specialty healthcare organization, struggles to implement Electronic Health Records. The first adoption failed outright because the customizations made the system unusable. The second attempted adoption has not officially failed yet, but the system fails to live up to the expectations. It lingers on the edge of usefulness: staff members cannot use it in real-time for most things, but the interfaces to the equipment prove helpful. Temporary staff members enter information from the day’s work after-hours, which wastes productivity. In this adoption, IT decides what customizations can be made. In addition, the IT department provides all training for staff members. IT gains the unfortunate moniker of the “no-help desk” because IT chooses to keep the system as close to the default vendor configurations as possible. This creates a system that does not work well with ComprehensiveCare’s processes. William, the administrator, and the board of directors must now decide how to manage and leverage IT assets to complete the implementation. This is the final case in a series of three cases following ComprehensiveCare’s adoption of Electronic Health Records. It covers the decision-making necessary for ComprehensiveCare to correct the adoption that is lingering in disuse. This is the final set of decisions required before the adoption ultimately succeeds. This case provides a context that would be most relevant in a graduate level IS management course, an undergraduate fundamentals course, or a project management course.

Recommended Citation

Gomillion, David L. (2017) "ComprehensiveCare and the Stalled Adoption of an Electronic Health Records System: IT Governance and Employee Succession," Journal of Information Systems Education: Vol. 28 : Iss. 2 , 93-100.
Available at: https://aisel.aisnet.org/jise/vol28/iss2/3