ABSTRACT
Health information technology (HIT) projects are highly complex social and technical endeavors. There is an emerging consensus that problems are caused by social, cultural, and financial issues, and hence, are more managerial than technical. For that reason, they should be analyzed by attention to both social and technical factors, as well as how they interact in the particular setting in which the project occurs. A theoretical framework that does just this sort of analysis is useful for understanding the stories of HIT success and failure. From the many useful theories and frameworks, two are popular among informaticists analyzing the kinds of issues that our case studies illustrate. The Institute of Medicine recognizes that HIT is part of a complex of Sociotechnical systems. Assessments of failures must continue and the lessons learned must be shared broadly if we are to meet the call to leverage HIT to dramatically improve health systems across the United States and the world.
