A study of 326 short-term, acute-care California hospitals found that use of an electronic medical records system increased costs per discharge for medical-surgical cases by 6-10 percent, according to a report from American Medical News.
Researchers from Arizona State University evaluated the hospitals, which implemented an EMR program between 1998 and 2007. Nurse staffing and patient outcome data from the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development were used to determine costs.
The hospitals were placed into three groups: stage one (systems that included pharmacy, laboratory and radiology and a clinical data repository), stage two (systems that had nursing documentation and electronic records for medication administration) and stage three (systems with clinical decision support and computerized order entry). Costs varied among the level of implementation at the hospital.
Nursing hours were impacted in all three groups, according to the report. Stage one hospitals saw nursing hours increase 13.3-14.6 percent, stage two hospitals saw increases of 11.2-21.6 percent and stage three hospitals reported increases of 16.0-19.4 percent.
Patient outcomes were only affected in stage one hospitals, which reported a higher rate of complications by 1.4-1.7 percent. Stage three hospitals did report increased rates of complications by 2.3-3.0 percent, but mortality decreased by 3.0-4.2 percent, according to the report.
Hospital costs per discharge rose 5.9-10.3 percent for stage two and three hospitals, but researchers concluded this was due to little evidence that EMR decreased the length of hospital stay, according to the report.
Researchers concluded that more study was needed into the financial impact of EMRs. The study is published in Health Services Research.
Read the AMNews' report on cost of California hospital EMR.
Researchers from Arizona State University evaluated the hospitals, which implemented an EMR program between 1998 and 2007. Nurse staffing and patient outcome data from the California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development were used to determine costs.
The hospitals were placed into three groups: stage one (systems that included pharmacy, laboratory and radiology and a clinical data repository), stage two (systems that had nursing documentation and electronic records for medication administration) and stage three (systems with clinical decision support and computerized order entry). Costs varied among the level of implementation at the hospital.
Nursing hours were impacted in all three groups, according to the report. Stage one hospitals saw nursing hours increase 13.3-14.6 percent, stage two hospitals saw increases of 11.2-21.6 percent and stage three hospitals reported increases of 16.0-19.4 percent.
Patient outcomes were only affected in stage one hospitals, which reported a higher rate of complications by 1.4-1.7 percent. Stage three hospitals did report increased rates of complications by 2.3-3.0 percent, but mortality decreased by 3.0-4.2 percent, according to the report.
Hospital costs per discharge rose 5.9-10.3 percent for stage two and three hospitals, but researchers concluded this was due to little evidence that EMR decreased the length of hospital stay, according to the report.
Researchers concluded that more study was needed into the financial impact of EMRs. The study is published in Health Services Research.
Read the AMNews' report on cost of California hospital EMR.