Measuring health IT's ROI
We’ve heard a lot about specific studies and pilot projects about the changes wrought by health information exchange. Surely, more will come. This month, the Institute of Medicine released a proposed model that seeks to help hospitals and health systems assess the ROI on EHR adoption.
The model evaluates institutional investment in EHRs and related technologies to enable inter-organization comparisons, help identify best implementation approaches and prioritize process redesign efforts. The release of this model is timely because I think it’s tempting for many to question whether their EHR efforts are worth it. I would not be at all surprised if this model results in numerous reports proving the link between EHRs, HIEs and improved outcomes, efficiency and safety.
If providers are less frustrated because they now have access to relevant patient data and the system saves money because a patient now does not require a duplicate test and an HIE-based alert system prevents a patient from taking a medication that negatively interacts with something else going on with him or her, everybody comes out ahead.
As we see more and more reports of information exchange launching between healthcare delivery systems, states and more, I hope we see more reports of how these larger, more expansive exchanges are positively influencing healthcare.
Beth Walsh
Clinical Innovation + Technology editor
Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.