Integration platforms such as Microsoft BizTalk are designed to provide this kind of capability. The connective processes can interact with both existing and new systems – using custom or “off the shelf” application adaptors and front-ends such as Infopath or Web Forms. The result is that captured information is passed and translated to other systems that need it.
Ben Stock, CTO at WCI believes that an incremental approach to adopting technology promoting streamlined healthcare processes will deliver tangible benefits.
Why does the NHS need BPM?
BPM allows organisations to develop solutions that span multiple systems and quickly deliver. That’s obviously useful in the NHS, where things change rapidly and the cost of procuring new systems may be beyond the budget.
Day-to-day activities are more likely to be achieved because IT can be better deployed to match specific requirements. Solutions developed this way can be updated and developed as healthcare demands and working practices evolve.
But for processes to be managed more strategically, they need to be more widely and consistently understood. Organisations have to make the effort to understand how their processes can be improved to deliver greater benefit, while reducing effort and waste.
BPM platforms can help by allowing processes to be tested and monitored, but organisations still need non-technology approaches to maximise their potential benefits.
Ben Stock explains fully in a 60 minute interview at the following link:
http://www.microsoft.com/uk/nhs/improving-healthcare/business-process-management/interview-ben-stock.mspx