EHR did not Significantly Improve Healthcare Quality in the US, Study

According to a new study, Electronic Health Records (EHR) did not significantly improve healthcare quality in the United States. The study was carried out by researchers from the Stanford University, School of Medicine, and its results appeared online in the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Aiming to assess the relationship of EHRs and clinical decision support (CDS) to the provision of guideline-concordant care, the research team analyzed nationwide survey data from more than 250,000 healthcare visits between 2005 and 2007.

Results showed that, EHRs were used in 30% of an estimated 1.1 billion annual US patient visits, 57% of which witnessed clinical decision support (17% of all visits). EHRs are much less likely used in solo practices than in multiphysician settings. Among the EHR visits, only 1 of 20 quality indicators showed significantly better performance in visits with CDS compared with EHR visits without CDS. Findings indicated no consistent association between EHRs and CDS and better quality.

Study co-author and medical student at Johns Hopkins, Max Romano, explained "Most studies before ours focused on how single EHR systems work in a few premier academic medical centers, and some of those studies have found significant benefits," adding "Our study takes a different approach: We looked at all non-federal outpatient settings in the United States, from solo private practices to community health centers, to see whether EHRs were having any noticeable impacts in the real world, and we found no significant differences in care quality,"

EHR did not Significantly Improve Healthcare Quality in the US, Study

Akron Children's Hospital Receives Award For Its Promoted Scheduling MRI Project

Akron Children's Hospital, Akron, OH, has recently received an honorary mention award for its project that promoted the effectiveness in scheduling MRI scans at the facility.

Akron Hospital was awarded by the International Quality and Productivity Center (IQPC), in a ceremony that took place during the Lean Six Sigma & Process Improvement Summit that was held on the 19th of January in Orlando.

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Akron Children's Hospital Receives Award For Its Promoted Scheduling MRI Project