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Completed Research
Revenue Value of Information Technology for Global
Healthcare Manufacturer
Project completed 2010. Historically the IT function in
organizations has been viewed as a cost center, and organizations have
sought to optimize and reduce investments in IT. However, some forward
looking organizations are increasingly acknowledging the strategic role
that IT can play in delivering revenue, that is, the revenue generated
as a result of investments in IT solutions or services. CHIDS
researchers conducted a series of studies to develop a Revenue Value of
IT Framework tailored to the unique needs of a global healthcare
manufacturer. The Framework assists both in quantifying opportunities
as well as a planning tool to conceptualize potential sources of revenue
facilitated by IT. Further details on the research are slated for
publication in 2010.
Personal Health Information Management and the Design
of Consumer Health Information Technology.
Project completed June 2009. Consumer health IT is the collection
of tools, technologies, and artifacts that consumers can use to support their
health care management tasks. “Patient empowerment” where the individual
healthcare consumer is conceptualized as a focal player in the flow of health
information, and where information technology is viewed as a key enabler of this
empowerment is an important and recurrent theme in the national discourse on
health. Such empowerment in healthcare is critically dependent on consumers’
ability to capture, store, and manage their “personal health information” (PHI).
In 2008, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) awarded a
contract to Insight Policy Research, Inc. with the objective to define the
domain of personal health information management, summarize extant research on
this topic, and offer recommendations that can enable better design of PHIM
tools. CHIDS conducted research and authored the report that synthesizes and
summarizes the existing literature across the following topic areas: (1)
Existing evidence on consumers’ personal information management(PIM) and
personal health information management needs and goals; (2) Practices used for
PHIM and PIM; (3) Tools and technologies available to date, either commercially
or in prototype form; and (4) Gaps in the literature regarding the understanding
of PHIM. Additionally, the report identifies areas in which future research is
necessary in order to drive the design of effective consumer health IT. The
report is available
here.
Quantifying the Economic Impact of Communication
Inefficiencies in U.S. Hospitals
Project completed 2009. Care delivery is a complex enterprise
that involves multiple interactions among multiple stakeholders.
Effective communication between these dispersed parties is critical to
ensuring quality and safety and improves operational efficiencies. Time
and motion studies in hospital settings provide strong evidence that
care providers— doctors and nurses—spend a significant proportion of
their time obtaining or providing information (i.e., communicating).
Yet, surprisingly, no studies attempt to quantify the economic waste
associated with communication inefficiencies in hospital settings at a
national level. Our research focuses on developing models for
quantifying the economic burden on hospitals of poor communications. We
developed a conceptual model of the effects of poor communications in
hospitals that isolates four outcomes: (1) efficiency of resource
utilization, (2) effectiveness of core operations, (3) quality of work
life, and (4) service quality, identifying specific metrics for each
outcome.
We developed estimates of costs associated with wasted physician
time, wasted nurse time, and increase in length of stay caused by
communication inefficiencies across all U.S. hospitals, using primary
data collected from interviews in seven hospitals and secondary data
from a literature review, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), and the
Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). We find that U.S.
hospitals waste over $12 billion annually as a result of communication
inefficiency among care providers. Increase in length of stay accounts
for 53 percent of the annual economic burden. A 500-bed hospital loses
over $4 million annually as a result of communication inefficiencies.
The economic burden of communication inefficiency in U.S. hospitals is
substantial. Information technologies and process redesign may help
alleviate some of this burden. The Project research briefing is
available here.
Full Paper being published in Journal of Healthcare Management Jul/Aug 2010
Isolating the Effects of HIT on Performance of a Cardiology Unit
Project completed April 2007. A primary issue at the organizational level is whether benefits – financial
and/or quality of care – result from investment in HIT. In this study we apply a
knowledge-based lens to the examination of IT adoption and process-level value,
incorporating the effects of the learning that occurs through complementary IT
adoption. We test hypotheses using data from almost 400
nationally-representative hospitals matched with both quality and financial
performance data. Findings help quantify the extent to which IT used for cardio
care reduces costs and improves the quality of care.
Adoption of Electronic Health Records in the Presence of
Privacy Concerns
Project completed May 2007. Privacy concerns can inhibit the adoption of EHRs. We draw from literature on
attitude formation and change to develop hypotheses that individuals can be
persuaded to support the use and ultimately adopt EHRs, even in the presence of
significant privacy concerns if arguments about the value of EHRs are framed
properly. Using a pseudo-experimental methodology, we assess the impact of
privacy concerns on the relationship between argument framing, issue
involvement, attitude and likelihood of adoption. The study yields important
implications for the design of awareness campaigns related to EHRs.
Social Support and Smoking Cessation in
Technology-Mediated Communities
Project completed summer 2006. We draw upon prior research in social support and social learning to hypothesize
that smoking cessation outcomes can be predicted by the structural social
support (i.e., quantity) and functional social support (i.e., quality) provided
to the individual in the online community. We measure structural social support
by the individual’s tenure in the community and the size of their social
network, i.e., the number of community members they interact with. Functional
social support is assessed by information need fulfillment, group
identification, and identity consonance. Empirical findings from a study of
participants on Quitnet.com provide support for the valuable and powerful
effects of social support from other online community members, i.e., virtual
“strangers”. Implications for the design of online communities for social
support related to wellness are discussed. CHIDS HITmap Project with HIMSS CHIDS had partnered with HIMSS to release a fully-featured, free version of the
HITmap. Please view it at www.HITDashboard.com. The database and digital map
were compiled by the Center for Health Information and Decision Systems (Grant
Awardees, CMS/CCIP Pilot Programs, Regional Health Information Organizations
(RHIO), Health Information Exchanges (HIE), Private HIT Initiatives,
Bridges-to-Excellence, and QIO/DOQ-IT. Other Completed Research
- Distribution of PHRs for maximum utility
- Perceived value of using a PHR
- Wireless VoIP communication technology and patient service
- Report Defining the PHR for research and practice
- The emerging digital health divide
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