CHICAGO New research presents evidence that suggests the implementation of advanced clinical systems, including computerized practitioner order entry (CPOE) and clinical documentation, have a direct impact on clinical quality measures and can increase hospital revenues related to pay-for-performance initiatives.

Presented in a joint white paper from the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) and HIMSS Analytics, a wholly-owned not for profit subsidiary of HIMSS, the data compares electronic medical record (EMR) adoption to care outcomes at 107 medical centers, members of the University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC).

For example, the study found that the 22 UHC hospitals with an EMR score of 4 or more, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) quality indicators, have deployed advanced digital technologies and benefited patients by improving their care. The technologies included computerized provider order entry (CPOE) and clinical decision support systems (CDSS), components of the EMR systems at these hospitals that made a significant and positive contribution to the quality of care and medical outcomes.


As background on the findings, the return on investment from EMR implementation traditionally has been difficult to quantify. While most hospitals have automated lab, radiology and pharmacy departments, the critical applications that help prevent or eliminate costly medical errors are installed in less than one percent of U.S. hospitals.

UHC is pleased to have played a role in conducting this important research, said Patricia G. Becker, vice president of technology services. This is the first time that were aware of that an effort has been undertaken to statistically correlate the penetration of advanced clinical IT with clinical quality across a broad number of hospitals.

The healthcare industry is increasingly aware of the need for additional investments in clinical information system solutions and this research supports the need for these investments to improve healthcare quality today, said H. Stephen Lieber, president and CEO of HIMSS. HIMSS and HIMSS Analytics are committed to pioneering the migration to a fully-automated healthcare environment.

Were just scratching the surface of the research needed in this area. The measure of success in implementing advance clinical systems is whether that implementation actually improved integrated clinical, financial, and patient satisfaction outcomes, said Dave Garets, president and CEO of HIMSS Analytics. This white paper points to improved clinical outcomes measures in organizations with higher EMR Adoption Model scores.

The white paper can be found on the HIMSS Web site.

About HIMSS
The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) is the healthcare information technology (IT) industrys primary membership organization, providing leadership for the optimal use of healthcare IT and management systems to advance the cause of healthcare. Founded in 1961 with offices in Chicago, Washington D.C., and other locations across the country, HIMSS represents more than 20,000 individual members and over 300 corporate members that collectively represent organizations employing millions of people. Visit http://www.himss.org for more information.

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