Calls for Papers (special): Journal of Cases on Information Technology (JCIT)
Special Issue On: IT in Healthcare
Submission Due Date
6/1/2012

Guest Editors
Rahul Bhaskar, Ph.D.

Introduction
Universally, the healthcare industry has been slow in adopting the information technology. With the healthcare reforms in the United States, healthcare plans are looking for solutions to keep the industry profitable while insuring customer- centric healthcare. Electronic Medical Records are being used increasingly by healthcare providers. Information technology is bringing a fundamental change to the way the hospitals work. Overall, there is a shift to use information technology by health insurance providers, healthcare providers, government, and hospitals. A lack of research and cases exist on the healthcare industry’s use of Information technology to deliver cost effective and quality customer-centric healthcare. The purpose of this special issue of JCIT is to fill this gap.

Healthcare information technology has the potential to significantly increase the efficiency of the health sector by helping providers, plans, and hospitals manage information. In the United States, due to the proposed paradigm shift with a support from the federal government, state governments, and various organizations, the spending on IT in healthcare is expected to increase. According to a recent market study by the Insight Research Corporation, the healthcare industry will spend over $55 billion between 2008 and 2013 on these services. Additionally, all over the world, governments and corporations are trying to control the cost of healthcare while providing improved services to rapidly changing demographics of their citizens– in developed countries population is getting older and in developing countries there are many young citizens. Information technology is considered to be a key to the overall solution in many of the initiatives.

The value provided by information technology to various businesses in healthcare is expected to be similar to other industries in that it will help with the bottom line of reduced cost, business process enhancements, and increased efficiencies in delivering healthcare. There are a few organizations and groups in healthcare that have taken a lead in implementing information technology. They are becoming a beacon of success for others to follow.

Objective
The goal of this special issue is to provide a deeper understanding of the current information technology use in various aspects of healthcare. The cases in this issue are meant to be used as teaching tools for both undergraduate and graduate higher education preparation for educational professionals. A range of potential uses of information technology are meant to support healthcare providers and health insurance plans by reducing costs, reducing medical errors, increasing healthcare quality, providing expertise recommendations, facilitating access to medical care, and streamlining coordination. Case studies are invited on any application of the information technology in healthcare anywhere in the world.

Recommended Topics
Topics to be discussed in this special issue include (but are not limited to) the following:


Adoption of any healthcare system
Cases related to the E-Gov policies, practices, and experiences at the healthcare level
Clinical decision support systems for patients, physicians or insurance payers to reduce medical errors and improve care and outcomes
Customer relationship management systems for healthcare
Database and business intelligence application in healthcare
EHealth, Telehealth, and Telemedicine technologies that support collaborative care and decisions
Future of IT use in healthcare
Implementation of electronic medical records and hospital information systems
IT issues during the merger of hospitals
Networked solutions for healthcare delivery
Technology use to better manage healthcare data/information/knowledge


Submission Procedure
Researchers and practitioners are invited to submit papers for this special theme issue on Information Technology in Healthcare on or before June 1, 2012. All submissions must be original and may not be under review by another publication. INTERESTED AUTHORS SHOULD CONSULT THE JOURNAL’S GUIDELINES FOR MANUSCRIPT SUBMISSIONS at: http://www.igi-global.com/Files/AuthorEditor/guidelinessubmission.pdf. All submitted papers will be reviewed on a double- blind peer review basis. Papers must follow APA style for reference citations.

All submissions and inquiries should be directed to the attention of:
Rahul Bhaskar, Ph.D.
Guest Editor
E-mail: rbhaskar@fullerton.edu