Will meaningful use electronic medical records reduce hospital costs?

Abstract

Background: More than one-third of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services core meaningful use (MU) requirements deal with medication management.

Objectives: To examine what impact the 5 core medication MU criteria have on hospital-acquired adverse drug events (ADEs) and their costs in 2010, as a baseline for the start of MU implementation in 2011.

Data sources: 2010 Florida State Inpatient Database (Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality), American Hospital Association (AHA) Healthcare IT Database Supplement to the AHA 2010 Annual Survey of Hospitals, and Hospital Compare.

Methods: We developed one of the first quality indicators to track in-hospital ADEs in administrative data. Controlling for nonresponse selection bias, we used multivariate logit regression analysis to examine the impact of the 5 MU medication elements on the probability of an ADE and on its costs.

Results: A hospital-acquired ADE was noted in 1.7% of hospitalizations. Odds of an ADE were 63% less in hospitals that adopted all 5 core medication MU elements (10% of hospitals in 2010) compared with hospitals that adopted no core elements. This effect was found even among lowperforming hospitals with below-average Hospital Compare quality. Estimated hospital cost savings per averted ADE were $4790. If all hospitals in Florida had adopted all 5 functions, 55,700 ADEs would have been averted and $267 million per year would have been saved.

Conclusions: Adoption of core medication MU elements will cut ADE rates, with cost savings that recoup 22% of information technology costs.