Lessons learned from three interorganizational health care information systems

The airline, financial, retail, consumer goods and cotton industries are not alone in their increased use of interorganizational information systems (IOSs). Health care organizations are investing and participating in a growing number of IOSs, such as community health information networks (CHINs) and integrated delivery systems (IDS). This paper examines the experiences of three CHIN systems located in the US — Midwest. Multiple data sources, including executive interviews, memoranda, internal documentation and system demonstrations, provided data for this research. The history of each case provides a better understanding of systems implementation and the underlying determinants that emerged as having significant impact. Not only do these findings provide guidelines and learning tools for practitioners, but they also hold implications to the field and its current position on bipolar streams in the literature. Lastly, our findings suggest that large health care infrastructures will continue to be confronted by the presence of the World Wide Web and electronic commerce.