The Benefits Of Health Information Technology:

A Review Of The Recent Literature Shows

Predominantly Positive Results

Melinda Beeuwkes Buntin, Matthew F. Burke, Michael C. Hoaglin, and David

Blumenthal
PRESENTED BY: JADE B. ARTIGO
BSIT-1A
INTRODUCTION
•Health information technology (IT) can enhance individual health and
provider performance, leading to improved quality, cost savings, and
increased patient engagement in their healthcare.

•The Affordable Care Act of 2010 underscored the importance of health

IT in achieving goals related to healthcare quality and efficiency.

•Health IT benefits have been found in earlier reviews, with larger

organizations being more likely to reap these benefits.
OBJECTIVES
• The objective of the study was to evaluate the outcomes of health
information technology (health IT) implementation.

• Categorize and analyze studies that had negative overall findings

related to the implementation and use of health information
technology.
STUDY DATA AND METHODS
• Two previous articles presented results from systematic reviews of
the peer-reviewed literature from 1994 to June 2007: Basit
Chaudhry's 1995-2004 review and Caroline Goldzweig's 2004-
2007 review.

• The researchers used the methods and selection criteria of these

two studies to update their findings on the effects of health IT for
the period July 2007 up to February 2010.
STUDY DATA AND METHODS
• Following Chaudhry and Goldzweig and their colleagues’ methods
and selection criteria, the researchers searched the online journal
database MED-LINE for the period July 2007 up to February 2010.

• The search resulted in a baseline of 4,193 articles. The review

team removed a total of 4,039 articles based on their titles, and
their study’s scope.

• This left 154 studies from the researcher’s inclusion criteria, 100 of
which were conducted in the United States.
STUDY DATA AND METHODS
• The studies were classified by study design, care setting, health IT
components, functions included in the meaningful-use criteria, and
outcomes addressed.

• The criteria they used differed in two aspects from the earlier reviews
which in the descriptive qualitative studies and systematic reviews.

• The researchers used descriptive qualitative studies to gather group

reports, interviews, and firsthand assessments of health IT
implementations, while excluding systematic reviews to avoid
covering articles already included in their review or prior ones.
STUDY DATA AND METHODS
• Limitations: The researchers set and must comply with this two
important limitations: the question of publication bias, and the fact
that we implicitly gave equal weight to all studies regardless of
study design or sample size.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
• One study found that patient mortality and nurse staffing levels
decreased after implementing an electronic health record.

• Another study found that clinical decision support decreased the

time spent with patients for anemia management.

• A clinical decision-support tool reduced unnecessary red blood cell

transfusions without increasing length-of-stay or mortality.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
• Most articles with positive overall conclusions used statistical
methods to test hypotheses or were descriptive studies with
quantitative findings.

• Hospitals with more-advanced health IT had fewer complications,

lower mortality, and lower costs.

• Of the 154 included studies, 96 (62 percent) were positive, and 142
(92 percent) were either positive or mixed-positive.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
• These 154 studies tracked 278 individual outcome measures. Of
these measures, 240 (86 percent) had at least mixed-positive
outcomes (Exhibit 1).

• Studies using statistical methods, assessing multiple outcomes, or

including efficiency or effectiveness were more likely to have
positive conclusions (Exhibit 2).

• Studies that assessed provider or staff satisfaction were less

likely to reach positive conclusions (Exhibit 2).
FIGURES
FIGURES
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
• The study reveals negative aspects of health information technology
implementation, including workflow issues, staff interaction issues,
and provider-to-patient communication challenges, that leads to
increased patient care errors.

• The study also found that "most wired" hospitals had higher costs
but lower mortality for heart attack patients.
CONCLUSION
• The "human element" is critical to health IT implementation.

• Provider satisfaction is strongly associated with negative findings,

highlighting the importance of strong leadership and staff "buy-in.“

• There is a need for studies that document the challenging aspects of

implementing health IT and how these challenges can be addressed.

• The expansion of health IT in the healthcare system is worthwhile and

can lead to lower costs, better quality of care, and improved patient
outcomes.
CONCLUSION
• The broad use of health information technology can be used to test
innovative care delivery and payment strategies and capture data on
their effects.

• Innovative uses of health IT continue to emerge and should be

monitored and disseminated more widely.
 The Benefits Of Health Information Technology:
A Review Of The Recent Literature Shows
Predominantly Positive Results

Melinda Beeuwkes Buntin, Matthew F. Burke, Michael C. Hoaglin, and David

Blumenthal

PRESENTED BY: JADE B. ARTIGO

BSIT-1A
THE END