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National survey of U.S. hospitals shows information technology has yielded neither administrative efficiencies nor cost savings.The increased computerization in U.S. hospitals hasn’t made them cheaper or more efficient.

The findings, published in online edition of The American Journal of Medicine, contradict claims by President Obama and many lawmakers that health information technology (health IT), including electronic medical records, will save billions and help make reform affordable."Our study finds that hospital computerization hasn’t saved a dime, nor has it improved administrative efficiency" said lead author Dr. David Himmelstein, associate professor at Harvard Medical School and former director of clinical computing at Cambridge Hospital in Massachusetts. "Claims that health IT will slash costs and help pay for the reforms being debated in Congress are wishful thinking"The study uses data from the most extensive survey ever undertaken of hospital computerization. Data from approximately 4,000 hospitals for the years 2003 to 2007, including those on a list of the "100 Most Wired" were analyzed for evidence of increased quality, cost savings or improvements in administrative efficiency.

Modest quality gains were noted in the treatment of heart attacks (acute myocardial infarction) in more-computerized hospitals, but even these small improvements may merely represent better documentation rather than actual gains to patients.Himmelstein said a report from the Congressional Budget Office in 2008 signed by Peter Orszag, now Obama’s budget director, expressed skepticism about claims by the RAND Corp. and others that health IT could generate $80 billion annually in savings."Part of the CBO’s skepticism was based on the limited information available to the RAND study and similar studies" Himmelstein said. "But this new, detailed, national survey of diverse hospitals shows such doubts are well-founded. Information technology can’t rescue us from our national health care crisis". "Any savings may have been offset by the costs of purchasing and running new computer systems" she said. "In addition, most software is designed around the accounting and billing needs of hospitals, not the clinical side" She noted that a computer success story in recent years has been at the Veterans Administration, where global budgets eliminate most billing and internal cost accounting, allowing physicians to focus instead on delivering care.

Source: webwire

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