CareGroup Case Study Analysis

Introduction

Eastern Massachusetts witnessed massive mergers in the late 1996, resulting in CareGroup. Driving forces that contributed to this merger were financial pressures and excessive competition in the healthcare industry. The formation of Care Group via merger between Beth Israel and Boston Deaconess Hospitals was based on the core purpose of tying down multiple legacy systems used in these independent medical entities. This action was believed to be potentially beneficial for doctors allowing them a single point of access for all the crucial information and day-to-day operations. The two hospitals were located at a distance of a block and stored the clinical data of their respective patients via separate dedicated mainframes. In addition, the Care Group healthcare system also encompassed four other hospitals eventually resulting in a massive healthcare system with crucial needs for data integration and access. Increasing number of physicians were now demanding access to clinical data from outside the walls of the respective hospitals, eventually putting increasing pressures on the organization towards data access and sharing (Halamka, J., 2008).

Figure 1

Causes for Collapse of System at CareGroup

The causes that lead to the collapse of the system are many. Some pertain to operational inefficiencies while other relate to how the organisation failed to realise the importance of IT risk as a risk to the business.

In the case of CareGroup, while a host of collapse sources have been identified below, it is worth mentioning that the most critical of these were the management of the basic structure and the functioning, which worked on multiple operating systems integrated into a single network. Lack of management towards incremental changes in the network resulted in lesser control over the data routes and paths and its consequent flow. Finally, the unmonitored experimental application had caused failure to occur.

One of the major causes that lead to system failure in Care Group was inadequate planning and incident management. Even though an audit of the entire system had been conducted a few months before the mishap, the IT audit failed to critically analyse the practices and the normal day-to-day operations that were being used in the IR procedures in this organization. These must include not only an audit of the productivity and efficiency of the system but also regular checking of the passwords to ascertain who has access to the data to maintain the privacy of the patients, logging capabilities, and data access and control methodologies. The breakdown of the system at Care Group is owed primarily to the lack of a proactive approach towards disaster management that is evident from the absence of appropriate check and balance. In addition, vulnerability assessments must also be conducted given the massive nature and excessive database Care Group caters to.

The role of IT department in the respective hospitals was not defined clearly concerning the empowerment they are given in relation to the do's and don'ts.

The merger of Beth Israel and Deaconess Hospitals took place in the year 1996. After nearly six years of smooth uninterrupted ...