Electronic Medical Records and Medical Procedure Choice: Evidence from Cesarean Sections

45 Pages Posted: 9 Jul 2016 Last revised: 19 Oct 2018

See all articles by Seth Freedman

Seth Freedman

Indiana University Bloomington - School of Public & Environmental Affairs (SPEA)

Noah Hammarlund

Indiana University - School of Public and Environmental Affairs

Date Written: October 19, 2018

Abstract

This paper examines how hospital adoption of Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) impacts medical procedure choice in the context of Cesarean section deliveries. It provides a unique contribution by tying the literature on EMR diffusion to the literature on the utilization of expensive medical technology and provider practice style. Exploiting within-hospital variation in three types of EMR adoption, we find that Computerized Physician Order Entry, an advanced EMR system that typically incorporates decision support, reduces C-section rates for low-risk mothers by 2.5%. Obstetric specific EMR systems and Physician Documentation have no statistically significant effect on C-section rates. In addition, we find that the CPOE effect occurs predominantly in hospitals that were already performing fewer C-sections, and does not change the behavior of already high-intensity providers.

Keywords: health information technology, medical technology, infant and maternal health

JEL Classification: I19, O33, D89

Suggested Citation

Freedman, Seth and Hammarlund, Noah, Electronic Medical Records and Medical Procedure Choice: Evidence from Cesarean Sections (October 19, 2018). Indiana University, Bloomington School of Public & Environmental Affairs Research Paper, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2807134 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2807134

Seth Freedman (Contact Author)

Indiana University Bloomington - School of Public & Environmental Affairs (SPEA) ( email )

1315 East Tenth Street
Bloomington, IN 47405
United States

Noah Hammarlund

Indiana University - School of Public and Environmental Affairs ( email )

1315 East 10th Street
Bloomington, IN 47405
United States

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