Decision Criteria for Distributed Versus Non-Distributed Information Systems in the Health Care Environment

摘要

The very same technological advances that support distributed systems have also dramatically increased the efficiency and capabilities of centralized systems making it more complex for health care managers to select the “right” system architecture to meet their particular needs.How this selection can be made with a reasonable degree of managerial comfort is the focus of this paper. The approach advocated is based on experience in developing the Tri-Service Medical Information System (TRIMIS) program. Along with this technical standards and configuration management procedures were developed that provided the necessary guidance to implement the selected architecture and to allow it to change in a controlled way over its life cycle.