The use of a clinical case study in a clinical information system selection process.

The University of Pennsylvania Health System recently underwent an extensive selection process for a new clinical information system. In addition to a traditional system selection approach, a clinical case study was utilized during our selection process. This was done in an effort to better prepare the clinicians involved in the selection process, as well as to help identify key operational issues that the institution would need to resolve, related to the design and implementation of a new clinical system. We wil describe here the reasons this approach was chosen, how the case study was utilized, and provide an assessment of its usefulness.