ONC: EHRs Improve Patients Safety

By Katie Wike, contributing writer

A webinar presented by the ONC for Health IT Week reiterates electronic health records have the potential to improve patient safety and reduce medical errors.

Electronic health records (EHRs) support medication reconciliation, reducing errors and keeping patients safe during their hospital stay. This is of particular importance in light of one study which found unintended errors on the records of 70 percent of the patients it reviewed.

Last week, in the spirit of Health IT Week, the ONC presented a webinar touting the ability of EHRs to reduce errors. More than half of providers say their EHRs are helpful when caring for patients, according to EHR Intelligence.

“Providers that adopt the principles of meaningful use, including computerized provider order entry (CPOE) and electronic documentation see significantly fewer patient safety events and a 52 percent reduction in the number of adverse drug events.”

According to the ONC, physicians with meaningful use-enabled EHRs reported their systems were:

• 26 percent more likely to generate general alerts and reminders that improve patient care
• 22 percent more likely to demonstrate positive medication or laboratory impacts
• 9 percent more likely to enhance communication

Health IT Outcomes reported earlier this year that hospitals which has adopted all five of the core medication management measures inherent in meaningful use experienced significantly fewer adverse drug events (ADEs). The ONC presentation pointed out that these hospitals reduced ADEs by 52 percent.

The ONC also explained that Advanced EMR adoption leads to:

• 27 percent decline in all (aggregated) events
• 30 percent decline in medication events
• 25 percent decline in complication of procedure test, or treatment