Hospital Implementation of Health Information Technology and Quality of Care: Are They Related?

Abstract

Recently, there has been considerable effort to promote the use of health information technology (HIT) in order to improve health care quality. However, relatively little is known about the extent to which HIT implementation is associated with hospital patient care quality. We undertook this study to determine the association of various HITs with: hospital quality improvement (QI) practices and strategies; adherence to process of care measures; risk-adjusted inpatient mortality; patient satisfaction; and assessment of patient care quality by hospital quality managers and front-line clinicians.

Keywords: Health information technology, Hospital quality improvement, Hospital patient care quality, Risk-adjusted inpatient mortality, Patient satisfaction, Assessment of patient care quality