This research presents an analysis and an assessment of an ambulatory care system in a community clinic setting. The presentation of the findings include discussions related to (1) problem description, (2) cost, (3) maintenance, (4) benefits attained, and (5) application fit.
The ambulatory care system in a clinical setting that is the focus of this analysis and assessment is a three-year old organization formed through a merger of several practice specialties. The merger provided centralized administrative, logistical, medical professional support, and system support functions, while retaining semi-autonomous specialty practice management. Further, there exists substantial patient crossover between medical practice specialty elements of the ambulatory care system.
The goals of the merger that created the ambulatory care system in a clinical setting were to (1) attain operating economies that would enable the various elements of the system to compete more effectively than was possible when functioning as independent practices and (2) improve the quality of the care delivered to patients. The scope of the information system component of the merged ambulatory care system included activities other than routine administrative and logistical functions. The additional activities included (1) patient scheduling, (2) resource scheduling, (3) patient care file centralization and sharing to include imaging, (4) direct interaction with external professional resources (such as teaching hospitals, medical schools, and other health care providers), and (5) patient access to support and information via the Internet.
System Stakeholders and Primary Users
The stakeholders in the information system element of the ambulatory care system included (1) patients, (2) professional staff, (3) non-professional clinic employees, (4) organizations providing resource support for the ambulatory care system, and (5) the com
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