Evaluating business value of IT in healthcare in Australia: the case of an intelligent operational planning support tool solution

The healthcare sector is complex and intricate. It consists of a web of players including clinicians, healthcare organisations, regulators, payers, suppliers, patients and their families to mention the major groups. Taken together they form a complex ecosystem made up of multiple and dynamic sub-ecosystems. With the focus on incorporating technology into this context what we find is one of the most intricate and complex of e-ecosystems that must function effectively and efficiently in order to provide superior care and treat patients. The following tries to ascertain the value associated with the application of technology in healthcare; i.e. the business value of IT in healthcare. This is done by synthesising key literature and then applying it to a specific case of a nursing informatics technology solution. In so doing, a unifying framework is established that enables us to understand key activities that occur throughout this e-ecosystem.