How are strategic planning, performance improvement, and information systems interrelated and fundamental to the delivery of quality healthcare?...

Walter Fischer

Strategic planning, performance improvement, and information systems are each essential
components of an effective organization. They are especially important in the context of
healthcare because of the stakes involvedthe life-and-death decisions that are inherent in the
provision of medical care to the seriously ill. They are also interrelated precisely because the
technological element represented by a healthcare facilitys information system is central to the
ability of the other two elements to function efficiently.

Strategic
planning is, as the name suggests, a long-range process of assessing a healthcare organizations
future requirement and preparing to meet challenges and expectations through personnel policies
and improvements to or recapitalization of the organizations existing information systems.
Information systems are constantly reviewed and assessed for weaknesses (e.g., vulnerabilities
to hacking and/or to systemic disruptions caused by power outages or other...