Importance of Information Systems in the Healthcare Sector

This paper analyses the importance of Information Systems (IS) in the Healthcare Sector. IS include any electronic software that is used to gather data, process and analyse it and consequently produce valuable information. Every business can benefit from the information it has for its clients because it can then use it to reach differentiation and competitive advantage. But more specifically, how do ISs affect the businesses that run in the Healthcare Sector? The paper describes and analyses some of these impacts. For example, IS can be used to generate information related to the tendency of each disease, so that the clinics can be prepared beforehand to serve the patients at different times of the year. Furthermore, IS can be used to generate patient information and identify certain patterns in the data. This helps to generate new ways for diagnosing illnesses, understanding disease risks and causes and helps in identifying ways in how to improve tailored clinical care. Some other beneficial effects include: demonstrating the safety of certain treatments, providing patients’ health history and scheduling appointments. By taking all these into consideration it can be said that the usage of IS in the Healthcare Sector has numerous advantages. These include all-time access to the patient data, error reduction, cost minimisation, improved data security and improved patient care. Unfortunately, this technique has its own disadvantages too. Setting the system up and later on, maintaining it requires time and money. Also, it can be hard to train employees on how to use the IS. Cybersecurity risks are also present, as in any other form of computer software. Nevertheless, clinics that are part of the Healthcare Sector are making daily use of IS. Some of the most used ISs are: Electronic Medical Record (EMR), Electronic Health Record (EHR), Clinical Information Systems (CIS) and Practice Management Software (PMS). It was concluded after analysing a detailed questionnaire sent to 16 Albanian clinics that IS systems are the future for the medical sector in Albania, even though it is not currently widespread in its adoption.