Information Technology and Patient Health: Analyzing Outcomes, Populations, and Mechanisms

50 Pages Posted: 4 Jun 2014 Last revised: 17 Jun 2015

See all articles by Seth Freedman

Seth Freedman

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

Haizhen Lin

Indiana University - Kelley School of Business - Department of Business Economics & Public Policy

Jeffrey Prince

Kelley School of Business, Indiana University

Date Written: June 2015

Abstract

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.

Keywords: Information Technology, Electronic medical records, Decision support, Patient safety indicators, Health

JEL Classification: H51, I11, I18, O33

Suggested Citation

Freedman, Seth and Lin, Haizhen and Prince, Jeffrey, Information Technology and Patient Health: Analyzing Outcomes, Populations, and Mechanisms (June 2015). Indiana University, Bloomington School of Public & Environmental Affairs Research Paper No. 2445431, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=2445431 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.2445431

Seth Freedman

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

1315 East Tenth Street
Bloomington, IN 47405
United States

Haizhen Lin

Indiana University - Kelley School of Business - Department of Business Economics & Public Policy ( email )

Bloomington, IN 47405
United States

Jeffrey Prince (Contact Author)

Kelley School of Business, Indiana University ( email )

1309 E. Tenth Street
Kelley School of Business
Bloomington, IN 47405
United States
8128562692 (Phone)
47405 (Fax)

HOME PAGE: http://https://kelley.iu.edu/jeffprin/

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