Include information needs in corporate planning.

Constraints placed on the healthcare industry throughout the 1980s make long-term planning for information systems needs difficult and, at the same time, vital to an organization's survival. One hospital's model for information systems planning balances strong executive leadership with participation from groups inside and outside the hospital and incorporates an analysis of the information systems environment into the facility's annual planning cycle. The hospital's experience highlights several issues to be considered in an information systems plan.