Outsourcing IT Technology Management: Winning Opportunity for Hospitals and Vendors

By Cynthia E. Keen

As healthcare IT becomes increasing technologically complex, well-designed partnerships with vendors and service companies may be the most efficient and cost-effective means by which to operate, Dr Thomas Geisinger, Global Manager for e-Health Integration of Agfa Healthcare in Mortsel, Belgium, told attendees at the Hospital Management Symposium.

Dr Thomas Geisinger, Global Manager for e-Health Integration of Agfa Healthcare...
Dr Thomas Geisinger, Global Manager for e-Health Integration of Agfa Healthcare in Mortsel, Belgium

The advantage of outsourcing IT services to an independent company tend to increase as hospitals with multiple healthcare facilities, and regions of hospitals consolidate their services, Dr Geisinger adds.

The requirements for individual hospitals in a geographic region to independently manage their HIS/RIS/PACS and permanent data archive may be easily manageable for the hospital’s internal IT professional staff. Interconnectivity among the hospitals, a shared data archive, and changing network requirements not only may be beyond the scope of the staff, but the process of managing a regional network may require a “portfolio” of dedicated and part-time experts.
Questions also arise with respect to “turf” ownership and responsibilities. Politics of ownership and payment responsibilities can create internal problems that outsourcing avoids, Dr Geisinger pointed out.

Dr Geisinger described the complex investigation and strategic operational planning issues and concerns that a hospital must make in selecting and negotiating with a vendor service provider.  “The process is not easy or fast. A management framework must be defined,” he said.

11.03.2008

Related articles

Photo

Sponsored • Keeping up with all developments

Heading into the future with a new generation of PACS

At the beginning of 2022, the Vienna General Hospital introduced DeepUnity, the next generation of PACS, which is used in clinics around the world today, taking the next step in image data management.

Photo

Video • Digital radiography

New from Agfa: SmartXR, Dura line and DSA

SmartXR is designed to make users' work easier and to support them in image acquisition, for example in aligning the DR detector, positioning the patient or setting optimal acquisition parameters.…

Photo

Sponsored • Agfa’s SmartXR

AI gives the digital radiography workflow a boost

In the move to evidence-based medicine, healthcare budgets put more pressure on efficiency, while quality of care has to meet ever increasing standards. Agfa has chosen to direct its development of…

Related products

Subscribe to Newsletter