The determinants of the extent to which healthcare delivery would be regarded as efficient, timely and efficient everywhere in the world would be the characteristics of the delivery system. The delivery system, in itself, could have various challenges that could affect the speedy delivery of healthcare as the stakeholders in the health industry would expect. The healthcare delivery system is no exception to these challenges. There are currently challenges that have been identified and were being addressed. There are also challenges that the industry could encounter in the future. All these challenges have considerable effects on the implementation of information technology in the healthcare industry.
There are critical challenges experienced in the adoption of the electronic healthcare management systems. Key among the challenges would be limited resources. Whereas considerable progress has been made to provide resources for implementation of the information technology, there are still significant restrictions that affect the efficient adoption of the system. The budgetary allocation to the healthcare industry does not allow for the complete and immediate transition to the electronic management. That had not enabled the players in this industry to acquire the needed state of the art machines that would make this system efficient.Another factor that has hindered the speedy transformation of the information technology is the infrastructural business. There are regions that report slow and inefficient internet systems. It is worth noting that for a computer system to work efficiently, internet connectivity would be a requirement for its success. The internet connection needed to be up to date, efficient and fast. Where the connectivity is slow, the system cannot work as fast as is expected. For the implementation to work smoothly, the infrastructural aspect should be considered urgently and adequate steps to avert future challenges associated with infrastructural development taken.
Labor force concerns in the industry have also hindered the implementation of the system. Inadequate training of the healthcare employees in handling of the digital systems has not been up to date. The existing employees ought to have been trained or retrained on how to handle the change to a digital system. As a matter of fact, information technology needed techno savvy individuals for its operation and implementation to move on smoothly. The training of employees should not just be addressed as a current problem because it would still pose a challenge even in the future.
One of the major areas where the health care industry lags behind is the information system. No enough investment was in the adoption of modern web-based systems where information would be readily accessible to health practitioners and other stakeholders in the industry. The healthcare industry still relies on old models of information systems. That had been attributed to financial constraints within this sector. The transition to the modern computer requires massive financial investments. As opposed to other industries, the financial muscle of the healthcare industry is still weak and cannot fully support the implementation of information technology.
Another aspect that makes the healthcare industry lag behind is the workforce. The workforce in the health industry were not adequately trained in the modern information technology. That leads to their slow adoption of the modern technology systems. They have not been kept up to date with the current trends in the management of information technology systems.
References
Information Resources Management Association., & Khosrow-Pour, M. (2006). Emerging trends and challenges in information technology management. Hershey, Penn: Idea Group.
