Technology in Healtcare: How HIT can reduce costs

During Session VIII, we made a shift in class from discussing all that ails the world to possible solutions to the problems the global community currently faces. Technology's role in revolutionizing many industries, including medicine and healthcare over the past several decades is undeniable. In fact, according to Dr. Shahi, none of the innovations in healthcare including the mapping of the human genome would have been possible without the tools that computer systems have provided to scientists.

Healthcare Information Technology (HIT) includes electronic medical records, Decision Support systems and Computerized Physician Order Entry for medication prescriptions. HIT systems provide access to patient information and if networked with other providers and hospitals can communicate patient health information to other providers making the patient's care at various providers integrative and efficient.

According to the Rand Corporation, there are three additional benefits in implementing HIT industry-wide, including efficiency savings, increased safety, and increased health benefits.

Efficiency savings refers to the care provided to patients using less resources, including reduced hospital stays because of increased safety and better coordination of care, reduced administrative time of nurses and more efficient drug utilization. Rand estimates a potential efficiency savings of $77 billion annually if HIT were implemented system-wide.

Increased safety would be obtained mainly during the prescription process through the Computerized Physician Order Entry system, which will generate alerts and warnings for any drug interactions and adverse effects. According to Rand's research, $1 billion dollars can be saved by eliminating annual 200,000 adverse drug events.

In terms of increased health benefits, HIT would be instrumental in chronic disease management by helping providers maintain constant communication with patients, by providing remote monitoring and transmission of patient's vital signs and by responding very quickly when the patient is in distress. Effective disease management can reduce the need and duration of hospitalization, which will reduce costs and maintain good health.

Currently, there are a number of hindrances in the marketplace and the healthcare industry to implementing HIT, including low numbers of providers/hospitals who have HIT systems, especially in rural and poorer facilities. Additionally, there is currently no market pressure for creating systems that can talk to each other and as a result HIT systems are currently fragmented and interconnectivity is limited.

Rand's policy recommendations center on government action, including continuing current efforts to implement HIT, accelerating market forces, and instituting subsidies to encourage adoption. These can further be accomplished by aggressively using federal purchasing power to overcome obstacles in the market.

System-wide implementation of HIT has the potential of improving health status and the healthcare system in the U.S. by improving efficiency of service delivery and reducing costs.

In his 2006 State of the Union speech, President Bush called for the widespread adoption of HIT, especially electronic medical records. Mr. Bush appointed David Brailer, M.D. to lead the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology within the Department of Health and Human Services. Mr. Brailer strongly supports organizational interconnectivity, which will encourage health care IT investments and facilitate health care reform. While some industry experts are excited by the renewed attention on HIT, the administration must focus continued efforts and attention on the promises made by the President.

Source: Rand Corporation. Research Brief. Health Information Technology. Available online at: http://www.rand.org/pubs/research_briefs/RB9136/index1.html