TY  - JOUR
AU  - Javitt,Jonathan C.
AU  - Rebitzer,James B.
AU  - Reisman,Lonny
TI  - Information Technology and Medical Missteps: Evidence from a Randomized Trial 
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 13493
PY  - 2007
Y2  - October 2007
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13493
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w13493.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Jonathan Javitt
Chairman and CEO, Health Directions
1700 Pennsylvania Ave.
Washington D.C.
E-Mail: jjavitt@healthdirections.net

James B. Rebitzer
Professor of Management, Economics, Public Policy
Markets, Public Policy and Law Department
Boston University School of Management
595 Commonwealth Ave.
Boston, MA 02215
Tel: 617-383-7356
Fax: NA
E-Mail: rebitzer@bu.edu

Lonny Reisman
Chief Executive Officer
Active Health Management, Inc.
New York, NY
E-Mail: lreisman@activehealth.net
AB  - We analyze the effect of a decision support tool designed to help physicians detect and correct medical "missteps".  The data comes from a randomized trial of the technology on a population of commercial HMO patients.  The key findings are that the new information technology lowers average charges by 6% relative to the control group. This reduction in resource utilization was the result of reduced in-patient charges (and associated professional charges) for the most costly patients.  The rate at which identified issues were resolved was generally higher in the study group than in the control group, suggesting the possibility of improvements in care quality along measured dimensions and enhanced diffusion of new protocols based on new clinical evidence.
ER  -