Health IT
Difficulties measuring value of health IT
Saw this article in NPR that describes the challenges researches looking at the Veteran's Administration system faced in trying to calculate the value (in monetary terms) of computerizing medical records.
I think that many of the same challenges will face those working on similar initiatives in other countries. What should donors be looking for--what are the metrics that a program can report that would demonstrate that implementing an electronic medical record was a good investment? Is it realistic to expect that these can be easily measured in the field?
(fyi: the article has many links to a larger health affairs issue on HIT, but those unfortunately are not open access)
Attached resource:
John Brooks
Thanks for the link Maria. On a related note, I don't know if it's
happened already or how feasible it is, but it would also be very helpful
to study the impact of EMR on clinical outcomes in the field.
3:36 PM, 20 Apr 2010 | Permalink
Maria May
John,
Are you specifically talking about EMR and clinical outcomes in resource poor settings? I would be really interested to see these types of studies as well, or even hear anecdotally how programs have seen outcomes change as a result of an EMR. There is a well known case in the US of Cedar Sinai
Attached resource:
Link leads to: http://www.upassoc.org/upa_publications/jus/2009february/smelcer4.html
Source: Journal of Usability Studies
Keywords: electronic medical records, health policy, United States, value
10:36 AM, 21 Apr 2010 | Permalink
Maria May
Sorry--hit submit too soon.
Cedar Sinai where the implementation of the EMR led to negative consequences for clinical outcomes (interesting resource attached to my previous post that looked at usability from the physician's standpoint, in advanced economy settings, using Cedar Sinai as an example of what not to do)
I was looking at the mHealth survey that Garrett posted last week. What is the aim of this initiative? Is there anything looking at EMR in parallel that will explore similar questions? It'd be great to see how others are thinking about attacking this question; we've talked about it a bit in our office, but are constantly struck by the complexity of teasing out the role of the EMR while accounting for how it interactions with the clinical delivery model.
10:39 AM, 21 Apr 2010 | Permalink
Garrett Mehl
Hi Maria,
A good starting point might be "Evaluation methods in biomedical
informatics" by Charles Friedman and Jeremy Wyatt. I'm certain that others
on this discussion forum can point you better literature of the evaluation
of the impact of EMR on health systems.
To answer your question about the aim of the mHealth survey that we
circulated last week: The survey is a small steptoward developing some
standard metrics that would be applicable for evaluating and comparing
mHealth interventions. Additionally, the survey asks questions that aim to
understand the level of evaluation rigor of current mHealth projects, and
determine what kind of assistance might be needed in order to more regularly
incorporate M&E into mHealth projects. The survey will help inform and guide
agencies that are involved in supporting or funding mHealth research and
technical assistance (e.g., WHO, mHealth Alliance, donors and other
technical agencies).
Hope that helps,
Garrett
12:23 PM, 21 Apr 2010 | Permalink