Information Technology and Patient Health: Analyzing Outcomes, Populations, and Mechanisms
We study the effect of hospital adoption of electronic medical records (EMRs) on health outcomes, particularly patient safety indicators (PSIs). We find evidence of a positive impact of EMRs on PSIs via decision support rather than care coordination. Consistent with this mechanism, we find an EMR with decision support is more effective at reducing PSIs for less complicated cases, using several different metrics for complication. These findings indicate the negligible impacts for EMRs found by previous studies focusing on the Medicare population and/or mortality do not apply in all settings.
-
-
Copy CitationSeth Freedman, Haizhen Lin, and Jeffrey Prince, "Information Technology and Patient Health: Analyzing Outcomes, Populations, and Mechanisms," NBER Working Paper 21389 (2015), https://doi.org/10.3386/w21389.Download Citation
Published Versions
Seth Freedman & Haizhen Lin & Jeffrey Prince, 2018. "Information Technology and Patient Health: Analyzing Outcomes, Populations, and Mechanisms," American Journal of Health Economics, vol 4(1), pages 51-79. citation courtesy of 
Related
More from the NBER
In addition to working papers, the NBER disseminates affiliates’ latest findings through a range of free periodicals — the NBER Reporter, the NBER Digest, the Bulletin on Health, and the Bulletin on Entrepreneurship — as well as online conference reports, video lectures, and interviews.
