Document Type
Capstone
Advisors
Dr. Guenter Tusch, tushg@gvsu.edu
Embargo Period
12-19-2013
Abstract
As health information technology (HIT) continues to evolve and become more incorporated with medical practices, hospitals, and patient care, it is not only important to take a look at how HIT affects patient care, but also the effect it has and will have on health care cost.
This presentation will focus on the financial burden of implementing clinical decision support systems (CDSS), the return on investment from different electronic health record software and CDSS, as well as the effect on patient treatment costs. An analysis of best practices, implementation strategies, and adoption stages will be included to determine the difference in results between medical organizations.
The methods involved was research was obtained from previous studies on different information systems, including medication management systems, medical record systems, immunization management systems, diagnostic decision making, mental health economics research, institutional information systems, and rule based systems in comparison with paper documentation systems.
Of the papers selected for this study, a majority showed decreased cost through methods such as increased efficiency in nursing, pharmacists and clerks, decreased patient expenses due to formulary checks and generic versus brand medication prescriptions, increased hospital revenue through diagnostic support systems, and decreased personnel per provider due to interfaces.
Even with the increased adoption rates of EHR software, there is still a lack of economic studies and information available. Many sources had statements where providers and hospitals view patient care as priceless and the true value is through improved patient care. There are also many variations in adoption stages and implementations which increased the difficulty of analyzing and comparing different studies and economic statuses. As healthcare costs rise through new drugs and changing policies, there needs to be an increased focus on healthcare information technology economics and cost reduction alongside the effects on patient care, not one after another.
ScholarWorks Citation
VanderLaan, Nicholas, "Clinical Decision Support Systems – An Economic Evaluation" (2013). Technical Library. 160.
https://scholarworks.gvsu.edu/cistechlib/160
