Hospital Health Information Technology Research Articles

Patient and Health Care Provider Perspectives on Patient Access to Test Results via Web Portals: Scoping Review.

A frequently used feature of electronic patient portals is the viewing of test results. Research on patient portals is abundant and offers evidence to help portal implementers make policy and practice decisions. In contrast, no comparable comprehensive summary of research addresses the direct release of and patient access to test results. This scoping review aims to analyze and synthesize published research focused on patient and health care provider perspectives on the direct release of laboratory, imaging, and radiology results to patients via web portals. PRISMA (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) guidelines were followed. Searches were conducted in CINAHL, MEDLINE, and other databases. Citations were screened in Covidence using the inclusion and exclusion criteria. Primary studies that focused on patient and health care provider perspectives on patient access to laboratory and imaging results via web portals were included. An updated search was conducted up to August 2023. Our review included 27 articles-20 examining patient views, 3 examining provider views, and 4 examining both patient and provider views. Data extraction and inductive data analysis were informed by sensitizing concepts from sociomaterial perspectives, and 15 themes were generated. Patient perspectives (24 papers) were synthesized using nine themes: (1) patterns of use and patient characteristics; (2) emotional response when viewing the results and uncertainty about their implications; (3) understanding test results; (4) preferences for mode and timing of result release; (5). information seeking and patients' actions motivated by viewing results via a portal; (6) contemplating changes in behavior and managing own health; (7) benefits of accessing test results via a portal; (8) limitations of accessing test results via a portal; and (9) suggestions for portal improvement. Health care provider perspectives (7 papers) were synthetized into six themes: (1) providers' view of benefits of patient access to results via the portal; (2) effects on health care provider workload; (3) concerns about patient anxiety; (4) timing of result release into the patient portal; (5) the method of result release into the patient portal: manual versus automatic release; and (6) the effects of hospital health information technology system on patient quality outcomes. The timing of the release of test results emerged as a particularly important topic. In some countries, the policy context may motivate immediate release of most tests directly into patient portals. However, our findings aim to make policy makers, health administrators, and other stakeholders aware of factors to consider when making decisions about the timing of result release. This review is sensitive to the characteristics of patient populations and portal technology and can inform result release framework policies. The findings are timely, as patient portals have become more common internationally.

Association between 30-day readmission rates and health information technology capabilities in US hospitals.

Health information technology (IT) is often proposed as a solution to fragmentation of care, and has been hypothesized to reduce readmission risk through better information flow. However, there are numerous distinct health IT capabilities, and it is unclear which, if any, are associated with lower readmission risk.To identify the specific health IT capabilities adopted by hospitals that are associated with hospital-level risk-standardized readmission rates (RSRRs) through path analyses using structural equation modeling.This STROBE-compliant retrospective cross-sectional study included non-federal U.S. acute care hospitals, based on their adoption of specific types of health IT capabilities self-reported in a 2013 American Hospital Association IT survey as independent variables. The outcome measure included the 2014 RSRRs reported on Hospital Compare website.A 54-indicator 7-factor structure of hospital health IT capabilities was identified by exploratory factor analysis, and corroborated by confirmatory factor analysis. Subsequent path analysis using Structural equation modeling revealed that a one-point increase in the hospital adoption of patient engagement capability latent scores (median path coefficient ß = -0.086; 95% Confidence Interval, -0.162 to -0.008), including functionalities like direct access to the electronic health records, would generally lead to a decrease in RSRRs by 0.086%. However, computerized hospital discharge and information exchange capabilities with other inpatient and outpatient providers were not associated with readmission rates.These findings suggest that improving patient access to and use of their electronic health records may be helpful in improving hospital performance on readmission; however, computerized hospital discharge and information exchange among clinicians did not seem as beneficial - perhaps because of the quality or timeliness of information transmitted. Future research should use more recent data to study, not just adoption of health IT capabilities, but also whether their usage is associated with lower readmission risk. Understanding which capabilities impact readmission risk can help policymakers and clinical stakeholders better focus their scarce resources as they invest in health IT to improve care delivery.

An event study of data breaches and hospital IT spending

Patient data breaches are a serious concern to hospital administrators. We investigated the changes in hospital health information technology spending subsequent to a data breach. U.S. hospitals are required to notify the Department of Health and Human Services following a significant breach of protected health information. The relationship between a data breach and health information technology spending was estimated using a difference-in-differences regression. We estimated changes in health information technology spending from two years before a breach to three years after a breach. The California Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development data provided hospital characteristics and financial variables. The Department of Health and Human Services provided the reported date of hospital data breaches. Datasets were merged for years 2012 to 2016. The study sample included general acute care hospitals with 100 or more licensed beds, yielding an unbalanced panel of 245 hospitals with 1,130 unique hospital-year observations. The breached group had 147 hospital-years and the control group had 983 hospital-years. Health information technology spending was associated with a 26.0% increase at one year after the breach. Specifically, data breaches were associated with a short-run increase in health information technology capital spending, and a long-run increase in health information technology labor spending. Our results indicate that data breaches are associated with higher health information technology spending. This may be attributed to capital and labor spending to improve security and remedy the damages due to a data breach.

Pharmacy Interweaving Safety Within Hospital Health Information Technology.

Research on the impact of hospital technology on medication safety usually focuses on prescribing and administration. Less is known about the pharmacy-related processes of reviewing, ordering and dispensing medications and how technology supports this work. We carried out a qualitative exploratory study of a hospital in England (UK) with the aim of gaining insight into processes of digitalisation. We found that hospital pharmacy staff perform safety work with technology aiming to prevent harm, such as 'scaffolding' people's thinking processes, or linking-up unintegrated systems. Their work seems to 'interweave' safety in between others' medication activities, but they do so sometimes struggling with technological deficiencies.

Utilisation of blood and blood products during open heart surgery in a low-income country: our local experience in 3 years.

In Nigeria, access to open heart surgery (OHS) is adversely affected by insufficient blood and blood products, including the challenges because of the lack of patient-focused blood management strategies owing to the absent requisite point-of-care tests in the operating theatre (OR)/ICU. In addition, the limited availability of altruistic blood donors including the detection of transfusion transmitted infections more commonly among non-altruistic blood donors is another burden affecting the management of excessive bleeding during and after open heart surgery in our country. The objective of this study was to review our local experience in the use of blood and blood products during open heart surgery and compare the same with the literature.Materials and methodsIn a period of 3 years (March, 2013-February, 2016), we performed a retrospective review of those who had open heart surgery in our institution. The data were obtained from our hospital health information technology department. The data comprised demography, types of operative procedures and units of blood and blood products transfused per procedure, including the details regarding the usage of the cell saver, as well as those who had severe bleeding requiring excessive blood transfusion. During the study period, 102 patients had open heart surgery, an average of 34 cases in a year. Among them, there were 75 (73.53%) males and 37 (36.27%) females, giving a ratio of 2:1. The ages of the patients were from 0.6 (7/12) to 74 years. Mitral valve procedure was the most common (n=22, 21.6%) surgery type. Transfusion requirements averaged 1.9 units of fresh frozen plasma, 0.36 units of platelet concentrate, and 1.68 units of packed cells per procedure. The least common surgical procedure was common atrium repair (n=1, 0.01%). Open heart procedure is a very complex procedure requiring cardiopulmonary bypass with associated severe perioperative bleeding. The attendant blood loss and haemostatic challenges are combated by intricate and selective transfusions of allogeneic blood and or blood products.

Exploring the roots of unintended safety threats associated with the introduction of hospital ePrescribing systems and candidate avoidance and/or mitigation strategies: a qualitative study

ObjectiveHospital electronic prescribing (ePrescribing) systems offer a wide range of patient safety benefits. Like other hospital health information technology interventions, however, they may also introduce new areas of risk. Despite...

Protocol for evaluation of the cost-effectiveness of ePrescribing systems and candidate prototype for other related health information technologies.

BackgroundThis protocol concerns the assessment of cost-effectiveness of hospital health information technology (HIT) in four hospitals. Two of these hospitals are acquiring ePrescribing systems incorporating extensive decision support, while the other two will implement systems incorporating more basic clinical algorithms. Implementation of an ePrescribing system will have diffuse effects over myriad clinical processes, so the protocol has to deal with a large amount of information collected at various ‘levels’ across the system.Methods/DesignThe method we propose is use of Bayesian ideas as a philosophical guide.Assessment of cost-effectiveness requires a number of parameters in order to measure incremental cost utility or benefit – the effectiveness of the intervention in reducing frequency of preventable adverse events; utilities for these adverse events; costs of HIT systems; and cost consequences of adverse events averted. There is no single end-point that adequately and unproblematically captures the effectiveness of the intervention; we therefore plan to observe changes in error rates and adverse events in four error categories (death, permanent disability, moderate disability, minimal effect). For each category we will elicit and pool subjective probability densities from experts for reductions in adverse events, resulting from deployment of the intervention in a hospital with extensive decision support. The experts will have been briefed with quantitative and qualitative data from the study and external data sources prior to elicitation. Following this, there will be a process of deliberative dialogues so that experts can “re-calibrate” their subjective probability estimates. The consolidated densities assembled from the repeat elicitation exercise will then be used to populate a health economic model, along with salient utilities. The credible limits from these densities can define thresholds for sensitivity analyses.DiscussionThe protocol we present here was designed for evaluation of ePrescribing systems. However, the methodology we propose could be used whenever research cannot provide a direct and unbiased measure of comparative effectiveness.

Knowledge is power: Evidence-based clinical decisions lead to better patient care

Knowledge is power: Evidence-based clinical decisions lead to better patient care

THE EFFECT OF HOSPITAL–PHYSICIAN INTEGRATION ON HEALTH INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION

The US federal government has recently made a substantial investment to enhance the US health information technology (IT) infrastructure. Previous literature on the impact of IT on firm performance across multiple industries has emphasized the importance of a process of co-invention whereby organizations develop complementary practices to achieve greater benefit from their IT investments. In health care, employment of physicians by hospitals can confer greater administrative control to hospitals over physicians' actions and resources and thus enable the implementation of new technology and initiatives aimed at maximizing benefit from use of the technology. In this study, I tested for the relationship between hospital employment of physicians and hospitals' propensity to use health IT. I used state laws that prohibit hospital employment of physicians as an instrument to account for the endogenous relationship with hospital IT use. Hospital employment of physicians is associated with significant increases in the probability of hospital health IT use. Therefore, subsidization of health IT among hospitals not employing physicians may be less efficient. Furthermore, state laws prohibiting hospitals from employing physicians may inhibit adoption of health IT, thus working against policy initiatives aimed at promoting use of the technology.

Predicting the impact of hospital health information technology adoption on patient satisfaction

To develop and explore the predictability of patient perceptions of satisfaction through the hospital adoption of health information technology (HIT), leading to a better understanding of the benefits of increased HIT investment. The solution proposed is based on comparing the predictive capability of artificial neural networks (ANNs) with the adaptive neuro-fuzzy inference system (ANFIS). The latter integrates artificial neural networks and fuzzy logic and can handle certain complex problems that include fuzziness in human perception, and non-normal and non-linear data. Secondary data from two surveys were combined to develop the model. Hospital HIT adoption capability and use indicators in the Canadian province of Ontario were used as inputs, while patient satisfaction indicators of healthcare services in acute hospitals were used as outputs. Eight different types of models were trained and tested for each of four patient satisfaction dimensions. The accuracy of each predictive model was evaluated through statistical performance measures, including root mean square error (RMSE), and adjusted coefficient of determination R(2)(Adjusted). For all four patient satisfaction indicators, the performance of ANFIS was found to be more effective (R(Adjusted)(2)=0.99) when compared with the results of ANN modeling in predicting the impact of HIT adoption on patient satisfaction (R(Adjusted)(2)=0.86-0.88). The impact of HIT adoption on patient satisfaction was obtained for different HIT adoption scenarios using ANFIS simulations. The results through simulation scenarios revealed that full implementation of HIT in hospitals can lead to significant improvement in patient satisfaction. We conclude that the proposed ANFIS modeling technique can be used as a decision support mechanism to assist government and policy makers in predicting patient satisfaction resulting from the implementation of HIT in hospitals.

Hospital computerized provider order entry adoption and quality

There is increasing national interest in advancing health information technology use in hospitals, but there is little research about the impact on quality in a nationally representative sample. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between hospital health information technology adoption and quality. Specifically, we examined the relationship between hospital computerized provider order entry (CPOE) and quality. We used a retrospective cross-sectional approach with multiple regression to examine the relationship between hospital CPOE adoption and 10 quality measures from the Hospital Quality Alliance. We used control variables and a propensity score approach to control for confounding factors. Hospital CPOE adoption is positively and significantly associated with five of the quality measures. A significant negative relationship exists between hospital CPOE adoption and another quality measure. When we controlled for confounding factors using the propensity score approach, the significant relationships remain. Strategic adoption of health information technology applications in hospitals along with careful and inclusive implementation of such systems is needed for optimal performance. Universal gains in quality are not guaranteed with CPOE adoption.