Opponents of HITECH’s $27-billion EHR Meaningful Use program have long argued that while the financial incentives have been successful at promoting EHR adoption, the technology itself has not delivered on its promise of improving care or lowering costs. Well, these detractors may soon be forced to eat crow. Some third-party data has recently emerged that provides clear evidence of the cost-reducing power of health IT.
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Opponents of HITECH’s $27-billion EHR Meaningful Use program have long argued that while the financial incentives have been successful at promoting EHR adoption, the technology itself has not delivered on its promise of improving care or lowering costs. Well, these detractors may soon be forced to eat crow. Some third-party data has recently emerged that provides clear evidence of the cost-reducing power of health IT.
One of the most convincing studies comes from the University of Michigan that shows that use of EHRs can reduce the costs of outpatient care by roughly 3% compared to relying on traditional paper records. This study compared four years’ worth of cost data from 179,000 patients in three Massachusetts communities that widely adopted EHRs and six control communities that did not. The “outpatient care” category in the study included the costs of doctor’s visits as well as services typically ordered during those visits in laboratory, pharmacy, and radiology.
On average, the researchers estimated $5.14 in savings per patient per month in communities with EHRs. Most of the savings were in radiology because physicians had better access to patient medical histories and ordered fewer imaging studies as a result.
A separate study conducted by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) also illustrated how health IT is positively impacting imaging costs. The study, titled Health IT Update: HIE Reduces Repeat Imaging, showed that using HIE can decrease repeated diagnostic imaging (e.g. x-rays, CT scans, etc.) for back and head pain. Researchers analyzed cases from Memphis area emergency departments and found that while clinicians didn’t frequently look up results through the HIE, there was a significant reduction in repeat imaging tests when they did.
What’s It All Mean?
Now, in the interest of full disclosure, more studies indicate that EHRs have been a failure when it comes to reducing healthcare costs than those that tout their financial benefits. And, in past columns (e.g. EHRs On Trial … Again and EHR Reality Check) I openly criticize these types of studies as being premature. In other words, it’s difficult to assess the true value of EHR technology when most of the healthcare industry is just beginning to adopt it and learning how to leverage it effectively. I’m not about to change my tune just because some new research has emerged that supports my belief that health IT will play a significant role in driving down healthcare costs and improving patient care. I still feel it’s way too early to realistically evaluate the effectiveness of EHRs.
That being said, I do believe the positive findings in this latest round of research are encouraging. Not that health IT supporters should start patting each other on the backs over a 3% reduction in outpatient costs, but it is something to build on. Think about it — this 3% reduction was achieved in spite of all the usability and interoperability issues that still exist with the EHR technology on the market today. It was achieved with most providers not leveraging the technology at its optimal levels (e.g. no clinical decision support, analytics, data exchange, etc.). In fact, it was likely achieved with several providers using the technology downright ineffectively. The industry will not (and should not) be content with a 3% decrease in outpatient costs. Instead, this should be viewed as the starting point. Healthcare providers, EHR vendors, and other solutions providers should be looking for ways to improve processes and apply technology in even more effective ways to improve this 3% cost reduction exponentially and into areas beyond outpatient services.
The True Promise Of Health IT Is Evident In Use Cases
To me, the best way to gain a sense of the true potential of health IT is to look at individual facilities that are leveraging technology solutions effectively instead of a collective population. More often than not, the facilities succeeding with health IT are applying it to solve very specific organizational or process problems as opposed to simply adopting technology for the incentive dollars.
HIMSS recently released an infographic (below) that illustrates some of these individual successes, and the metrics are much more impressive than a 3% cost reduction in outpatient services. The following are a few examples of the facilities featured in the infographic and how they are benefitting from health IT:
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Unity Health has experienced a 118% increase in patient satisfaction;
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Mount Sinai Medical Center has seen a 52% decrease in 30-day readmission rates;
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Sentara Health Care is enjoying a $500,000 annual decrease in claims denials; and
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Hawaii Pacific Health has saved more than $9.7 million to date due to the elimination of transcription services.
(Click to enlarge)![Realizing The Value Of Health IT Infographic]()
Health IT Outcomes features these types of individual health IT success stories regularly on our web site, email newsletters, and print magazines. Covenant HealthCare Partners (CHP) and St. Luke’s Health System are two facilities we’ve covered most recently. CHP is leveraging population health management tools to substantially improve patient outreach and clinical outcomes. St. Luke’s, on the other hand, is ensuring PHI security with a combination of data flow mapping and full-disk encryption technologies. To keep abreast of these and other health IT success stories, visit www.HTOinfo.com every day.
