The status of IT service management in health care - ITIL？ in selected European countries

The current study aims at exploring knowledge about and acceptance of IT service management (especially ITIL？) in hospitals in Austria and its neighboring regions Bavaria (Germany), Slovakia, South Tyrol (Italy) and Switzerland. Therefore highly standardized interviews with the respective head of information technology (CIO, IT manager) were conducted for selected hospitals from the different regions. In total 75 hospitals were interviewed. Data gathered was analyzed using descriptive statistics and where necessary methods of qualitative content analysis.In most regions, two-thirds or more of the participating IT managers claim to be familiar with the concepts of IT service management and of ITIL？. IT managers expect from ITIL？ mostly better IT services, followed by an increased productivity and a reduction of IT cost. But only five hospitals said to have implemented at least parts of ITIL？, and eight hospitals stated to be planning to do this in the next two years. When it comes to ITIL？, Switzerland and Bavaria seem to be ahead of the other countries. There, the highest levels of knowledge, the highest number of implementations or plans of an implementation as well as the highest number of ITIL？ certified staff members were observed.The results collected through this study indicate that the idea of IT services and IT service management is still not widely recognized in hospitals in the countries and regions of the study. It is also indicated that hospitals need further assistance in order to be able to successfully implement ITIL？. Overall, research on IT service management and ITIL？ in health care is rare.Due to the strained financial situation in the healthcare sector, hospitals and other healthcare providers are facing an increasing pressure to improve their efficiency and reduce costs while maintaining or even increasing the variety and quality of their medical services. Besides that, general medical progress leads to a constant increase in knowledge and a hig