Evaluating the Development of e‐Health Project: The Case of Slovenia
Dalibor Stanimirovic and Mirko Vintar University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Administration, Ljubljana, Slovenia dalibor. stanimirovic @ fu. uni‐lj. si mirko. vintar @ fu. uni‐lj. si
Abstract: National project for Informatization of the health care system in Slovenia, known as e‐health, was initiated in 2005. e‐health entails the inclusion of stakeholders into the functional network, reconstruction of the health care system business model as well as integration of many information systems( IS) at different levels. Undertaking this extremely difficult task, while taking into account a complex and multidimensional structure of the health care system, e‐health should provide opportunities for high quality and professional work with patients, long‐term development and facilitate access to relevant economic, administrative and medical data, required for effective management of the individual health care organizations and health care system in general. The main objectives of the paper comprise the identification and analysis of the key e‐health components and success factors, evaluation of the e‐health development and production of applicable guidelines for further development and implementation of e‐health in Slovenia. Research is based on the extensive document analysis and information retrieval through in‐depth investigation of primary and secondary resources and other forms containing e‐health related contents, while the evaluation framework was established on the basis of the most important components of e‐health, defined during the analysis of existing research in the field. Paper reveals various deficiencies which have in our opinion substantially affected the development of e‐health and undermined stakeholders’ engagement in the project, which could significantly jeopardize the deadlines set and increase implementation costs.
Keywords: e‐health, analysis, infrastructure components, evaluation, development guidelines.
1. Introduction
Informatization is one of the fundamental structural reforms that would allow for successful and effective tackling of challenges facing the Slovenian health care system( Marušič et al. 2004, Ministry of Health 2005 and 2008). Experience of the most developed countries shows that successful implementation of informatization projects is of immense strategic importance for further development of the health care system( European Commission 2008 and 2011, Chaudry et al. 2006), but also displays important implications for the increase in social welfare( Jakubowski and Busse 1998, Godlee et al. 2004, WHO 2009), economic development( Berg 2001, Ammenwerth et al. 2003, Goldzweig et al. 2009) and evolution of information society( Grimson 2001, Sandford et al. 1992). Although the basic informatization of the health care system was established relatively early, Slovenia still does not have an interoperable and comprehensive health information system( HIS). Majority of existing IS have been developed within individual health care organizations and are designed specifically to meet their own needs( Marušič et al. 2004, Ministry of Health 2008) while they are not adequately interoperable and do not provide complete, relevant and timely information( Marušič et al. 2004, Ministry of Health 2005 and 2008). The already initiated national project of health care system informatization from 2005, known as e‐health( Ministry of Health 2005) should be able to integrate all fragmented IS and offer a complete solution benefitting all interested parties. e‐health should provide opportunities for high quality and professional work with patients and long‐term development, whereas relevant and reliable economic, administrative and medical data provided by e‐health should facilitate better quality planning( Islam 2007), control and management of individual health care organizations and health care system in general( Ministry of Health 2005 and 2008). The main objectives of the paper comprise the assessment of the e‐health progress, identification and analysis of the key e‐health components and success factors, and production of applicable guidelines for further development and implementation of e‐health in Slovenia. In achieving the aforementioned objectives we have been focusing primarily on the following interrelated research questions:
• Review of the e‐health strategies, policy papers and related documents.
• Evaluation of the recent e‐health developments in Slovenia.
• Identification of the main deficiencies in the current setting of e‐health and provision of guidelines for development and implementation.
Methodologically speaking, the paper represents an in‐depth analysis of the e‐health development in Slovenia. The evaluation framework was established on the basis of the most important infrastructure components of e‐ health, which were defined during the investigation of existing research in the field, as well as
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