Organisational Maturity and Project Success in Healthcare: The Mediation of Project Management Jorge Gomes 1 , Mário Romão 2 and Helena Carvalho 3 I ISEG, Universidade de Lisboa, Rua Miguel Lupi, 20, Lisboa, Portugal 2 ISEG, Universidade de Lisboa, Rua Miguel Lupi, 20, Lisboa, Portugal 3 ISCTE, Instituto Universitário de Lisboa, Avenidas das Forças Armadas, Lisboa Portugal 1 jorge.gomes@phd.iseg.ulisboa.pt, 2 mario.romao@iseg.ulisboa.pt, 3 helena.carvalho@iscte.pt Keywords: Health IS/IT Projects, Maturity Models, Project Management, Project Success, Benefits Management Abstract: The challenges that face health organisations nowadays are to deliver more and better information, and to provide faster quality services at prices that are affordable to the entire population. To fulfil this objective, health organisations require more comprehensive and integrated technological solutions, in order to optimise their available resources, as a means to eliminate inefficiencies and to achieve planned benefits from investments. More and more, project management is recognised as being a key tool for use in developing initiatives that are aimed at promoting the implementation of organisations’ strategies. The focus of this research is to design a framework that combines different management approaches, in order to strengthen the outcomes of investments in Information and Technology Systems (IS/IT) in the health sector. The results encountered at the end of the pre-test phase indicated that the correct appropriation of technology by organisations, combined with the use of project management practices, are facilitators in achieving greater success from project outcomes. 1 INTRODUCTION IS/IT are now spread worldwide, and are adopted and used in many sectors, including the health sector. Implementations of IS/IT in the healthcare industry are one of the main assets that has helped improve patient care (Li et al., 2010). They proved to be essential for patients, as well as for professionals and managers alike in decision making. Professional project management is required for the success of healthcare IS/IT projects, especially initiatives that involve the integration of systems. The research has shown that internal factors and project team problems represent the major cause of failures in project management processes (Xiangnan et al., 2010). Success is perceived differently by the various participants involved in managing projects (Freeman and Beale, 1992). While there may be differences in project management approaches, most authors agree about the inclusion of cost, time and quality as criteria for measuring progress in achieving the objectives of a project (Atkinson, 1999). Improvement in successful projects is originates mostly from the increasing maturity of the organisation (Skulmoski, 2001; Sergeant et al., 2010). Higher levels of maturity generally lead to better project results (PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2004). As the success of a project depends on the perception of a significant number of stakeholders, the absolute success of a project does not really exist, but only the perceived success (Baker et al., 1988). The project success concept has evolved over the past few decades, and a new understanding of the concept is emerging which gives it a wider and more comprehensive definition. 2 THE HEALTHCARE SECTOR Health processes rely heavily on both information and knowledge. In this context, management information plays a crucial role. Numerous studies have shown the positive effects of using IS/IT in healthcare (Lenz and Reichert, 2007). Over the past three decades, the health sector has sought to improve their performance through the adoption of IS/IT to increase the levels of effectiveness and efficiency of healthcare (Raghupathi and Tan, 1999). The growing use of