UNDERSTANDING CHALLENGES TO HIT SYSTEMS IMPLEMENTATIONS: A SOCIOTECHNICAL PERSPECTIVE

Health Information Technology (HIT) System implementations are challenged by numerous interrelated technical, social, and organizational factors. Together they form sociotechnical systems that require equal attention to HIT systems and their context as they adapt to each other in a process that has not yet been thoroughly understood. This lack of understanding is evident from lack of adoption, post-implementation unintended consequences and failed implementation projects. There are numerous factors behind this lack of understanding, mainly because healthcare processes are highly unpredictable. In addition to technical factors related to degree of system openness which affects systems' interoperability. Understanding these factors is an important step towards achieving effective implementation process for important systems such as nationwide electronic health record with all aspired features. This paper represents a framework synthesized from literature to contribute to efforts to understand HIT systems' implementation process. The framework outlines four aspects of the implementation process: technical, social, organizational, and project management and assembles factors hindering the implementation process according to these aspects.