course material

1. Colorado State University Major Impact of Healthcare Technology Paper
Master of Healthcare Administration HCM 600 Research Project What are the Major
Impacts of Healthcare Technology and Trends in Promoting Healthcare Administration and
Management in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia? A proposal for research project Prepared by
Supervised by: Date: 01/01/2023 Background & Problem Statement Background In the
contemporary world, many countries continue to embrace modern technology in various
industries. One sector that has extensively adopted information technology worldwide is
the healthcare industry (Alotaibi & Federico, 2017). Just like many other countries, the
Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has initiated various strategies to accelerate the integration
of information technology in healthcare. KSA has embraced recent developments and the
current framework to bring digital advancement transformation of the healthcare sector via
health technologies and trends such as cloud computing and the Internet of things (Dang et
al., 2019). The changes have resulted in significant improvements in the health
infrastructure to influence how health services are offered in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
The country continues implementing digital health programs and applying IT and
telecommunication products and strategies to administer and manage the healthcare
industry via rising concepts such as e-health, telemedicine, artificial intelligence, big data,
data analytics, and other healthcare trends. The aim of using modern information
technology in the healthcare industry is to assist the KSA in achieving its Vision 2030
framework established in 2017 (Alkhateeb et al., 2019). The framework helps the country
to implement artificial intelligence and various data sources to promote and increase
innovative digital health solutions. The Saudi government has promoted the use of
information technology and trends in healthcare by promoting collaboration among various
stakeholders in the healthcare industry, such as the Ministry of Health, the Saudi Authority
for Data and Artificial Intelligence (SDAIA), the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA), and
the Communications and Information Technology Commission (CITC). (Ahmed, 2021) It is
also essential, according to Ahmed (2021), to acknowledge that KSA has already adopted
feasible procedures to digitize or transform its healthcare systems via modern technology
and trends. Healthcare technologies used in KSA have assisted the healthcare industry to
fast-track improvement in quality of care, patient safety and experience, patient satisfaction,
and healthcare efficiency. Integrating digital technology and trends in healthcare systems in
the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has significantly benefited the Saudi healthcare system. Some
benefits include promoting convenience for patients and healthcare providers, achieving
more accurate diagnoses, providing more effective treatments, improving care

2. coordination, communication and collaboration, and real-time monitoring of chronic
diseases. The KSA’s Vision 2030 framework also aims to reduce healthcare costs. Thus,
digital healthcare technology and trends promote effective administration and management
of healthcare to deliver economic benefits that will help KSA to save on healthcare costs and
allow the country to utilize the resources in other priority health areas. (Ahmed, 2021) In
other words, healthcare information technology in the KSA has brought digital
transformation that plays a fundamental role in promoting healthcare efficiency and
improving health outcomes (Ahmed, 2021). The KSA integrated e-health to digitize
healthcare providers and documentation of health medical records via clinical workflow
management systems and electronic health records (EHRs). In this regard, this proposal
mainly explores the impacts of healthcare technology and trends in the management and
administration of healthcare services in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). The primary
focus of this proposal is to perform a systematic review to explore how healthcare
technologies and trends such as artificial intelligence, telemedicine, clinical decision
support, e-health, virtual care, big data and analytics, barcode medication administration,
electronic health records, among others have impacted and benefited the Saudi healthcare
system (Shore et al., 2018). Problem Statement The Healthcare industry is one of the most
fundamental sectors of any country because it involves saving the lives of citizens by
preventing and treating diseases that contribute to a high mortality rate. Countries with
poor healthcare systems experience major challenges that affect social, cultural, economic,
and political aspects. Countries with poor healthcare systems must embrace various
strategies to improve their healthcare systems. One way to improve the healthcare system
is to integrate information technology to facilitate healthcare management and
administration. The KSA established KSA’s Vision 2030 in 2017. One of the aspects of Vision
2030 is cost saving in healthcare. It is not easy for the Saudi government to reduce the cost
of healthcare due to economic hardships and uncertainties that affect the pricing of
healthcare services. (Feldman et al., 2018) Nonetheless, the KSA has already established
steps to improve healthcare management and administration via digital health. KSA has
already integrated various healthcare technologies and trends to improve healthcare in the
country. In the long run, healthcare information technology will help Saudi to achieve better
health outcomes, improve patient safety and experience, and lower healthcare costs as
anticipated by KSA’s Vision 2030 framework. In this regard, the research question of the
proposal is “What are the Major Impacts of Healthcare Technology and Trends in Promoting
Healthcare Administration and Management in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia?” The research
question provides information on what the KSA has achieved in healthcare through
healthcare technology and trends. It will also provide information on what the KSA needs to
do to promote further digital healthcare transformation. The information on the impacts of
information technology in healthcare in the KSA is relevant in undermining the milestone
taken by the country to improve healthcare. Other countries, especially developing nations,
to improve their healthcare systems, can use the information. The objectives of the research
proposal include understanding the benefits of digital health in KSA, understanding health
areas impacted by information technology, and understanding how the Saudi government
and Saudi citizens benefit from modern health technologies and trends. Review of

3. Literature The research proposal is a systematic review that explores the impacts of
information technology and trends in transforming the management and administration of
healthcare services in the KSA. Thus, it is essential to summarize various sources to
understand how the KSA has achieved digital health and its impacts on the citizens,
healthcare providers, government, and other key stakeholders. According to a study by
McKinsey & Company (2022), the KSA relies on healthcare information technology to
promote healthcare efficiency and improve health outcomes. The study shows that the KSA
has benefited from digital health by reducing healthcare costs. It also forecasts that the KSA
will save resources in the future if it continues using information technology. For example,
healthcare technologies will help the country to unlock more than $27 billion by 2030.
Saving healthcare costs is a great milestone for the KSA in achieving its Vision 2030 because
it will bring healthcare transformation that will improve patient experience, the quality of
care, and healthcare efficiency. McKinsey & Company (2022) elude that healthcare
information technology and trends in the KSA have impacted healthcare management and
administration by bringing economic benefits. The country also realizes more economic
benefits through the continuous integration of digital healthcare technologies. For example,
digital health technology has already unlocked $15 billion in the KSA and anticipates
unlocking over $27 billion in 2030 (Alkhateeb et al., 2019). These estimates indicate that
digital healthcare technology assists the KSA in saving its resources. Once more resources
are saved; patients, healthcare providers, payers, provider organizations, and the Saudi
government through the Ministry of Health will enjoy the economic benefits. The economic
benefits of integrating healthcare technologies and trends in the Saudi healthcare system
will impact healthcare administration and management by reinvesting 10 to 15% of the
total projected healthcare expenditure to other priority health areas by 2030 to bring a
culture of safety and quality in the Saudi healthcare system and enhance patient outcomes.
McKinsey & Company (2022) also argue that the source of savings that the KSA draw from
digital health technologies and trends include virtual interactions, self-care and self-
services, decision intelligence system, workflow automation, and paperless data. First,
virtual interactions have assisted the KSA in saving billions of healthcare costs. For example,
virtual interactions such as remote monitoring of chronic diseases, electronic triaging, and
virtual consultations have benefited the KSA in saving healthcare costs (Ahmed, 2021). The
cost of managing chronic diseases in Saudi has reduced significantly. Patients do not have to
travel to hospitals because they access healthcare services virtually from their remote
areas. Selfcare and self-services allow Saudi citizens to embrace modern technology for
disease prevention, primarily through screening and digital diagnostics for home-collected
blood panels (Ahmed, 2021). These trends have also helped in cost saving. The KSA has also
benefited from decision intelligence systems that use machine learning algorithms to
manage healthcare plans and identify patient treatment patterns to reduce and prevent
medication errors. McKinsey & Company (2022) indicate that health technology impacts the
healthcare system in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia through workflow automation that
improves organizational healthcare, the quality of data utilized in clinical decision-making,
and the promotion of the patient experience. Lastly, paperless data has assisted the KSA in
promoting healthcare collaboration and communication via electronic health records

4. (EHRs) that promote online patient-record documentation. A peer-reviewed article by Noor
(2019) also explores the impact of healthcare technology in the KSA via the utilization of e-
health. According to Noor (2019), e-health has impacted the approach used by the KSA to
improve the management and administration of healthcare services. The Saudi government,
through the Ministry of Health, is integrating e-health technology to maximize healthcare
expansion to meet the objectives of Vision 2030 (Alkhateeb et al., 2019). E-health
technology in Saudi Arabia involves using information and communication technologies to
promote healthcare delivery. Thus, the impacts of e-health in the KSA include easing the
delivery of care services, allowing healthcare providers to effectively administer treatment
for patients, enhancing medical research, monitoring public health, and promoting decision-
making to respond to diseases. E-health is part of healthcare technologies and trends that
have been used to rank the KSA position 26 for countries with the best healthcare systems.
Noor (2019) also argues that e-health in the KSA has contributed to the tremendous
transformation in healthcare administration. For example, e-health has assisted the KSA in
moving from paper to paperless services, thus enabling healthcare providers to use digital
data, which is more accurate and efficient. E-health in the KSA has ensured that many health
organizations have installed computerized systems to benefit from e-health services to
enhance access to care, as anticipated by KSA’s Vision 2030 (Alkhateeb et al., 2019).
Another study by Chambers and Partners (2022) focuses on healthcare trends and
development in the KSA. According to this study, healthcare information technology has
impacted how the KSA manages and administers healthcare services by presenting some
critical areas impacted by current healthcare trends. First, Saudi Arabia uses technological
trends for mental health management applications to allow healthcare organizations to
manage chronic and infectious diseases (Young et al., 2019). The current healthcare trend in
the KSA also involves online pharmaceutical solutions that make it easy for patients to buy
medications, renew, and obtain prescriptions. Technology trends in the current healthcare
system in the KSA include health applications such as workout applications and fitness
trackers to help patients with chronic illnesses manage and monitor their vital signs. The
KSA also benefits from telemedicine services that allow patients to book or cancel
appointments virtually and obtain medical results virtually from their remote locations.
(Young et al., 2019) Chambers and Partners (2022) elude that the KSA will benefit from
future healthcare trends such as virtual reality and augmented reality, where healthcare
providers will use mobile devices to reduce face-to-face patient-physician interaction, thus
reducing healthcare costs. The KSA also uses robotics in healthcare to deliver health-related
information through artificial intelligence. Healthcare robots allow the Saudi healthcare
system to offer to monitor healthcare services for disease prevention and minimize the risk
of infection. The KSA also benefits from 3D printing technology that allows 3D printing
laboratories to design protective equipment such as face masks, medical devices, and
equipment. Once the equipment is manufactured, they are stocked and distributed with the
KSA to assist millions of patients with various healthcare needs. The last healthcare trend in
the KSA is tracing applications that collect real-time patient data. Tracing applications were
highly used in the KSA to fight the Covid-19 pandemic by tracing the pattern of infection
through mobile devices. Abu-Dalbouh et al. (2019) demonstrate how electronic health

5. records (EHRs) have transformed the healthcare system in the KSA. The Saudi healthcare
system also proposed an EHR website to serve the Saudi healthcare community. The
website allowed healthcare organizations in the KSA to move from paper to paperless
records. Thus, healthcare providers communicate effectively on patient treatment plans
because they can accurately assess patient records, medical history, and other healthcare
data electronically. Covid-19 overwhelmed many healthcare systems, and the Saudi
healthcare system was no exception. A peer-reviewed article by Alghamdi et al. (2021)
shows how healthcare technology assisted the KSA in managing the Covid-19 pandemic. For
example, Saudi Arabia has been using digital health technologies to screen patients
suspected to be infected with Covid19. The KSA also relied on advanced technology such as
machine learning, artificial intelligence, and mobile health applications to help people
maintain social distance and facilitate the tracing of patients (Reddy et al., 2018). Thus, the
tele-health network utilized in Saudi Arabia aligns with its Vision 2030. Saudi Arabia has
also made proposals to use block-chain technology in healthcare to allow patients to make
digital payments through crypto-currency and Bit-coin (Albahli et al., 2020). The use of
block-chain technology in the Saudi healthcare system will provide an alternative form of
payment for patients (Siyal et al., 2019). Methodology The research mainly relies on a
research methodology called a systematic qualitative review. It involved a systematic
review analyzing data on healthcare technology’s impact on the KSA from various sources.
When selecting the research methodology, a systematic qualitative review is selected based
on the research question, purpose, and context (Munn, 2022). Various levels, such as
healthcare policies, organizations, government agencies, and individuals, influence the
impacts of information technologies and trends in the KSA. Thus, a systematic qualitative
review is suitable for this research because several levels influence the research question. A
literature review of various sources is the main source of information to answer the
research question in a systematic qualitative review. Research Plan and Timeline The
research plan for this research mainly involves collecting data from various articles and
studies on how healthcare technologies and trends influence healthcare management and
administration in Saudi Arabia. Thus, the plan is to use peer-reviewed scholarly articles and
studies focusing on healthcare technology. The research timeline for this proposal is to use
current sources. All the sources used in the research have been published within the last
five years. Ethical consideration When conducting a systematic review, it is paramount to
follow ethical considerations. As a systematic reviewer in this research, it is essential to
evaluate biases when searching for sources to use in the research. For example, it is ethical
to select articles or sources that do not express bias on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as a
country to ensure the information provided on the impacts of healthcare technologies and
trends is credible, reliable, and accurate. Another ethical consideration in a systematic
review is avoiding studies or sources with ethical insufficiencies to ensure the information
presented in the research proposal is ethical. It reduces conflict of interest (Bruno & Haar,
2020). Nonetheless, providing informed consent for an original study is not an ethical
requirement because this research uses a systematic qualitative review as the research
methodology (Suri, 2019). References Abu-Dalbouh, H. M., Al-Matrouk, M., Al-Zwaid, N., Al-
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