Study: HIE saved $1 million in emergency care costs
A recent study may bring good news to those looking for a financial and clinical case for health information exchanges (HIEs).
Access to an HIE boosted quality of emergency care and saved more than $1 million in Medicare costs, or $1,947 per patient, according to research by the American College of Emergency Physicians.
The 12-month study from February 2012 to February 2013 examined 325,740 emergency patient encounters and 7,525 log-ons to an HIE by 231 eligible clinicians at 11 emergency departments in South Carolina. The research team analyzed a sample of 532 Medicare patients from this population who had information available in the HIE and for whom the clinician staff caring for the patients completed a survey.
The study attributed the HIE to savings by avoiding the following types of services:
- Laboratory/microbiology: (187 patients) $2,073
- Radiology: (298 patients) $476,840
- Consultations: (61 patients) $6,461
- Hospital admissions: (56 patients) $551,282
"Nearly 90 percent of participants said that quality of patient care was improved, and 82 percent of participants said that valuable time was saved, reporting a mean time savings of 105 minutes per patient," according to study author Dr. Christine Carr of the Medical University of South Carolina.