Assessing the cost of electronic health records: a review of cost indicators

Telemed J E Health. 2010 Nov;16(9):963-72. doi: 10.1089/tmj.2010.0014. Epub 2010 Oct 19.

Abstract

We systematically reviewed PubMed and EBSCO business, looking for cost indicators of electronic health record (EHR) implementations and their associated benefit indicators. We provide a set of the most common cost and benefit (CB) indicators used in the EHR literature, as well as an overall estimate of the CB related to EHR implementation. Overall, CB evaluation of EHR implementation showed a rapid capital-recovering process. On average, the annual benefits were 76.5% of the first-year costs and 308.6% of the annual costs. However, the initial investments were not recovered in a few studied implementations. Distinctions in reporting fixed and variable costs are suggested.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Canada
  • Colombia
  • Computers / economics
  • Computers / statistics & numerical data
  • Cost Savings / standards
  • Cost Savings / statistics & numerical data
  • Costs and Cost Analysis / economics
  • Costs and Cost Analysis / statistics & numerical data
  • Decision Making*
  • Electronic Health Records / economics*
  • Electronic Health Records / statistics & numerical data
  • Global Health
  • Health Care Costs / standards
  • Health Care Costs / statistics & numerical data*
  • Humans
  • Software / economics
  • Software / statistics & numerical data