IT Strategy and Alignment: Issues in Health Care Organizations: Methodology and Data Collection

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For the purpose of this study, a literature review method was chosen to review recent studies on IT strategy alignment in healthcare organizations. The rationale for using this method is to explore how healthcare organizations can align their IT strategies with organizational goals and what managerial and organizational characteristics hinder IT strategy alignment, as reported in the literature. Figure 1 shows how the process of selecting relevant studies was conducted.

Figure 1. Flow chart of included studies.

First, the cover period for the reviewed literature was limited to studies published within the last five years, with articles published in 2016 being the oldest ones meeting the inclusion criteria. The reason for the exclusion of studies published prior to 2016 is that more recent studies are based on the previous research but include updated concepts, ideas, and findings. Since the area of IT is developing rapidly, it is reasonable to search for the latest studies on IT strategy alignment in healthcare to find up-to-date data and recommendations for practical implementation. Secondly, only English-language studies were included in the review because the author of the current research is not multilingual. Thirdly, the articles were not excluded based on the country they referred to because it was assumed that IT alignment practices were applicable to healthcare management regardless of the national context.

Then, the search was conducted in the following databases and libraries: Google Scholar, PubMed, ProQuest, Taylor & Francis, and Wiley Online Library. The keywords used during this process included IT strategy, alignment, and healthcare. The Boolean operator AND was used to obtain more relevant results. Thus, the search terms were as follows: “IT alignment” AND “healthcare” and “IT strategy” AND “alignment” AND “healthcare.” It was decided that the search terms should appear anywhere in the paper rather than only in the title in order not to miss potentially relevant studies. The search returned 1,060 results in Google Scholar, 2 results in PubMed, 103 results in ProQuest, 42 results in Taylor & Francis, and 42 results in Wiley Online Library. The total number of search results obtained using the search terms mentioned above was 1, 249. The titles and abstracts of the found studies were scanned, and 22 studies were selected. At this stage, studies not related to IT in healthcare were excluded because they were not relevant to the current research.

The next step was to read the full text of the 22 selected studies and determine which of them should be included in the review. It was decided that only peer-reviewed journal articles and books met the inclusion criteria. Therefore, one dissertation, three theses, and five conference proceedings were removed from the selection of eligible studies. The reason for the exclusion of these types of works is that conference proceedings and theses are not necessarily peer-reviewed. Upon a closer look, thirteen other articles and books appeared to cover IT issues not related to IT alignment in healthcare and, therefore, were excluded. The final selection of sources eligible for inclusion contained eight articles, summarized in Table 1.

Table 1. Summary of the included studies and the rationale for inclusion.

Citation Study Purpose Research Design Conclusions Inclusion Criteria
Farah, Bonnet, and Damaj (2020) To study a healthcare organization, detect drawbacks in the alignment between the IT strategy and organizational goals, introduce tools to establish the alignment, and evaluate the impact of the intervention. Qualimetrics
intervention research		 Introduced tools that improved working practices and coordination in the organization, which improved IT alignment and organizational performance. Peer-reviewed article; the subject of the study is a healthcare organization – a hospital in Lebanon; provides insight into how healthcare organizations can achieve IT alignment.
Langdale and Glonek (2016) To review the ways of developing oncology-specific IT strategies Review A key to developing a successful IT strategy is to create a vision, employ a team of engaged stakeholders, and adhere to the organizational strategy. A peer-reviewed article; focusing on the oncology department, explains how healthcare professionals should develop IT strategies.
Nair and Dreyfus (2018) To investigate how IT adoption strategies influence hospitals’ meaningful use of IT A longitudinal study To ensure that IT strategy aligns with organizational goals, healthcare organizations should consider such measures as more frequent steering committee meetings and a longer planning horizon. Peer-reviewed article; explores the advantages of strategic IT alignment in healthcare organizations and the ways of achieving it.
Price, Green and Suhomlinova (2019) To investigate how NHS implemented IT strategies An exploratory, retrospective longitudinal case study NHS experience difficulties in implementing IT strategies. The alignment between IT strategies and management of large organizations is under-researched. A peer-reviewed article; outlines organizational factors that prevent healthcare organizations from effectively implementing IT projects
Rusinko (2020) To explore IT healthcare organizations’ responses to Covid-19 Review Responses to Covid-19 showed that organizations can adapt their IT strategies to environmental changes rapidly. Peer-reviewed article; provides an example of how a healthcare organization can effectively adopt IT strategies to address environmental challenges
Sha, Chen and Teoh (2020) To investigate how to manage the alignment of IT strategy with organizational strategy A qualitative case study Identified two alignment patterns: a business-strategy-driven pattern and an IT-strategy-driven pattern. Developed a model of the alignment between IT and organizational strategies. A peer-reviewed article; the subject of the study is a healthcare organization – Riverside Hospital in Singapore; explains how healthcare organizations can align their IT strategies with organizational goals; emphasizes the importance of managerial support for IT alignment.
Snedaker (2017) To provide straightforward guidance to workers in healthcare IT N/A Explained how healthcare organizations should address the problem of the alignment between IT and organizational goals. A book on healthcare IT; contains fundamental information on managing IT in healthcare organizations; chapters 2 and 3 are especially relevant because they are concerned with IT alignment in healthcare.
Wang et al. (2019) To explore what combinations of big data analytics, organizational capabilities, and organizational resources result in better performance of healthcare organizations A fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis Business data analytics alone cannot improve organizational outcomes. However, when used in a combination with organizational resources and capabilities, it positively affects the performance of a healthcare organization. A peer-reviewed article; explains the factors that influence the effectiveness of the implementation of IT strategies in healthcare organizations.

Reference List

Farah, S., Bonnet, M. and Damaj, K. (2020) , International Journal of Business Information Systems, 34(2), pp. 273-292.

Langdale, R. and Glonek, A. (2016) , Oncology Issues, 31(2), pp. 46-51.

Nair, A. and Dreyfus, D. (2018) , International Journal of Medical Informatics, 110, pp. 42-51.

Price, C., Green, W. and Suhomlinova, O. (2019) ‘, Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, 26(3), pp. 188-197.

Rusinko, C. (2020) , Information Systems Management, 37(4), pp. 332-338.

Sha, X., Chen, J. E. and Teoh, S. Y. (2020) , Information Technology & People, 33(5), pp. 1465-1488.

Snedaker, S. T. (2017) Leading healthcare IT: managing to succeed. Boca Raton: CRC Press.

Wang, Y., et al. (2019), British Journal of Management, 30(2), pp. 362-388.

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