Healthcare information technology and economics

Abstract

At the 2011 American College of Medical Informatics (ACMI) Winter Symposium we studied the overlap between health IT and economics and what leading healthcare delivery organizations are achieving today using IT that might offer paths for the nation to follow for using health IT in healthcare reform. We recognized that health IT by itself can improve health value, but its main contribution to health value may be that it can make possible new care delivery models to achieve much larger value. Health IT is a critically important enabler to fundamental healthcare system changes that may be a way out of our current, severe problem of rising costs and national deficit. We review the current state of healthcare costs, federal health IT stimulus programs, and experiences of several leading organizations, and offer a model for how health IT fits into our health economic future.

Interspecialty Communication Supported by Health Information Technology Associated with Lower Hospitalization Rates for Ambulatory Care-Sensitive Conditions

“…Evidence from within specific health organizations suggests EHR use, in conjunction with other advanced care processes, have beneficial effects on patients. [32][33][34]36 Our study's findings add to that literature by examining HIT, interspecialty communication, and care management supports not just in integrated health systems but in a nationally representative sample of more typical PCPs and their patients. Indeed, one of this study's strengths is the very descriptive battery of items on HIT/EHR functionalities used by physicians.…”

“…29,30 To date, HIT has been demonstrated to help care delivery in other ways (eg, increased adherence to guideline-concordant care, decreased medication errors, decreased testing redundancy, and enhanced surveillance and monitoring). [31][32][33][34] But some also have raised concerns about potential harms if HIT is not designed or used in a way that maximizes clinical information and patient safety. 35 To our knowledge, our study is the first to use nationally representative data at the individual physician level to examine whether EHR use in ambulatory settings is associated with potentially preventable hospitalizations.…”

“…Nonetheless, this study included numerous items on HIT use, and when added to the work of others, 32,33,38 it suggests that HIT alone is not sufficient to create the conditions necessary to avoid potentially avoidable hospitalizations. Reliable communication among primary care and specialist physicians about referrals and consultations, particularly in the presence of HIT, is associated with lower rates of potentially avoidable hospitalizations.…”

Informatics-enabled interprofessional education and collaborative practice: A framework-driven approach

“…1 Unprecedented government and organizational investment in development and implementation of HIT has risen substantially, particularly since 2008. 2 In spite of financial expenditures, most organizations have failed to consider a clinical practice platform, which is also an essential component in transforming healthcare. 3 The Institute of Medicine (IOM) identified the need to focus on what works in healthcare, as it relates to evidence.…”

The Virtuous Circles of Clinical Information Systems: a Modern Utopia

“…investment (ROI). Such financial return is expected from improved health professionals' work-flow management, suppression of order transcription costs, reduced length of stays, reduced duplicated actions, improved communication between stakeholders, and better financial recovery from third party payers [2,[5][6][7][8][9][10]. From an academic point of view, a CIS should foster clinical research (e.g., through better patient inclusion in public and privately sponsored clinical trials) and accelerate publication of novel outcomes in peer-reviewed journals.…”