Health IT and Quality
The federally defined meaningful use objectives (MUOs) for electronic health record (EHR) systems have focused attention on the relationship between technology and care quality. We are examining whether hospitals with EHR capabilities that meet or exceed 2011 MUOs were more likely to have better process and outcome quality.
We are also examining the impact of specific technologies. For example, the impact of electronic medication administration records (eMAR) and computerized physician order entry (CPOE) on compliance with medication guidelines. Relative to non-adopters of both eMAR and CPOE, we find that the odds of adherence were higher by 14–29% for eMAR-only hospitals and by 13–38% for hospitals with both technologies. Further, each additional 2 years of technology use was associated with 6–15% higher odds of compliance on all medication measures for eMAR-only hospitals and users of both technologies (supported by DHS and NSF).