Understanding business intelligence in the context of healthcare

Abstract

In today's fast changing healthcare sector, decision makers are facing a growing demand for both clinical and administrative information in order to comply with legal and customer-specific requirements. The use of business intelligence (BI) is seen as a possible solution to this actual challenge. As the existing research about BI is primarily focused on the industrial sector, it is the aim of this contribution to translate and adapt the current findings for the healthcare context. For this purpose, different definitions of BI are examined and condensed in a framework. Furthermore, the sector-specific preconditions for the effective use and future role of BI are discussed. © The Author(s), 2009.