| Quality improvement in healthcare has been one of the key challenges in the United States for decades now. To overcome those challenge, healthcare organizations have employed many of the common Quality Improvement Methodologies (QIMs). Those methodologies and others have been some of the most effective tools for quality improvement in many other industries, including manufacturing and supply chain. However, it is unclear as to how QIMs are utilized in healthcare settings and if the QIM implementations can benefit from the commonly implemented Health Information Technologies (HITs). This study evaluates the hypothesis of whether or not QIMs are implemented using HIT systems in hospitals and practices in the United States. This involves evaluating the types of implemented QIMs as well as investigating the outcomes of the employed methodologies in terms of efficiency, throughput and financial impact. Moreover, the study forms an understanding on how the different HITs that exist in many healthcare settings are used as part of QIMs. The study also assesses the obstacles that prevent hospitals and practices from utilizing HITs in QIMs. To conduct the study, two datasets have been obtained, which are the Dorenfest Institute dataset and the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Analytics data source. In addition, a survey has been conducted to collect data about how healthcare settings in the United States have been utilizing QIMs in the last ten years. Finally, the allocated and collected data have been analyzed and the results have been presented and discussed. |
