Problem – Pharmacy

You are the IT Director at a 175 acute care bed hospital in central Illinois that has been using Meditech for its core health care IT financial and admitting/registration applications. The organization has just completed the development of a strategic IT plan that calls for the implementation of a number of clinical applications during the next 2-3 years. The Director of Pharmacy has stated she would like to be among the first to begin implementing an automated clinical solution in her department. She has been pushing Bridge Medical as her system of choice and is trying to get other clinical department directors to agree upon Cerner as their system of choice. She is taking this position because she believes Bridge Medical will satisfy the demands of the “five rights” for medication safety while Meditech doesn’t have the capabilities she needs to be successful in this area.

The CFO of the hospital (your boss) recognizes if the hospital purchases the Bridge Medical clinical application then there could be data integration and billing issues from using two different IT suppliers. On the other hand, if the CFO dictates integration from a single supplier, then the clinical department directors could be very upset. The CFO has asked for your opinion on this matter. Should the hospital consider the purchase of Bridge Medical’s clinical application or should the hospital consider Meditech as its clinical system of choice?

He is asking that you prepare a 15-20-minute presentation that he’ll present to the hospital’s executive committee stating the background of the situation, an understanding of the problem, your position with supporting data and references, and your recommendation(s).