Hospitals That Are Better at Using IT Save More Lives While Reducing Costs
Many experts argue that better use of information technology (IT) in hospitals across the country can improve patient outcomes and at the same time lower the cost of care. Now comes publication of a study of IT use by hospitals in Texas that supports that view. Researchers determined that extensive use of information technology helped hospitals in Texas cut costs and save lives.
Results of this study, titled “Clinical Information Technologies and Inpatient Outcomes: A Multiple Hospital Study”, were published in the Archives of Internal Medicine on January 26, 2009. Researchers surveyed physicians affiliated with 41 Texas hospitals. These physicians were treating patients for a variety of conditions, including heart attack, heart failure, and pneumonia. Researchers determined that relatively modest increases in the use of technology by a hospital often had dramatic results. (more…)
