Realising information technology benefits in the health sector - The management education agenda

Worldwide the Health Service Delivery Sector is undergoing enormous change and turmoil. Substantial investment in Information Technology (IT) might help make such change more survivable, but to date only a low level investment in IT has occurred within the sector. This relates to relatively limited understanding of IT's real potential in improving the quality of patient care, reducing cost, and improving operational efficiency.

In this paper we make a twofold argument: (a) IT is a key enabler of the type of improvement sought by the sector in quality, patient satisfaction and cost-effectiveness of care delivery, and that, central to the effective implementation and ultimate achievement of such benefit, is a fundamental paradigm shift in the attitude of Australian health service management to the value of information; and (b) structured management education programs (covering the managerial aspects of deploying IT and managing benefits), tailored for health industry managers, must be central to both initial and ongoing health industry education and training programs. Without such management education in the sector the expectations for major improvement by decade's end will not be realised.