Health Care is better served by software created quickly and effectively. A process uniquely capable for this type of software, when done well, is Agile Development. This is especially true when user centric approaches are used which lead to tools being built that meet user needs.
Often the wrong tool is created because users were ignored, their wants were perceived as needs (they often don’t know what they need – this is why you observe their behavior), or the execution was insufficient. And these are not mutually exclusive. The point is if you do not build what users need then they will not be in a position to do their job as effectively as they could have. Unfortunately, the dark side of Agile is that people perceive they always need to rush and there is not enough time to determine user needs. This is simply not true as you save more time later by building features aligned to user needs with user involvement at every iteration.
You know your software is bad if physicians, nurses, admins, or revenue cycle professionals take an inordinate amount of time to do what should be easy tasks. The move from paper to electronic was supposed to lead to more efficiency. And yet it has not done as well as we could have hoped. The prime reason for this is again, tools are being created that do not align to user needs. This is why you create prototypes and test them early with users identifying what failed (and features will) so you can fix them. Waiting many months before you show your work to users is a recipe for waste. And if you find nothing wrong, your test didn’t test what it should have because nothing is perfect.
Further, clients are shown the Cadillac of what could be delivered but often that does not become what is delivered. And the Cadillac or the delivery may not necessarily be what their users need. Proper business analysis, user experience, and dev can identify and implement the proper tool.
We at Saxony Partners believe that fostering an environment in which experimental perspectives are taken seriously--contributes to our clients’ success and sets us apart. We seek to be open-minded and to allow the data to determine how a product or process should be created or improved. And we do so with a passion for getting our clients and their customers what they need, when they need it. When you partner with us, you partner for success.