Title: Health information technology adoption: effects on patient safety and quality of care

Authors: Binyam K. Seblega; Ning Jackie Zhang; Thomas T.H. Wan; Lynn Y. Unruh; Anastasia Miller

Addresses: Healthcare Economics, Medical Informatics Department, UnitedHealthcare, Inc., 48 Monroe Turnpike, Trumbull, CT 06611, USA ' Department of Interprofessional Health Sciences and Health Administration, School of Health and Medical Sciences, Seton Hall University, Alfieri Hall Room 26B, 400 South Orange Ave., South Orange, NJ 07079, USA ' College of Health and Public Affairs, University of Central Florida, Box 163680, Orlando, FL 32816-3680, USA ' Health Management and Informatics, College of Health and Public Affairs, University of Central Florida, HPA 2, 210L, 4000 Central Florida Blvd, Orlando, FL 32816, USA ' Department of Public Affairs, University of Central Florida, HPA 1, 220, 4000 Central Florida Blvd., Orlando, FL 32816, USA

Abstract: The adoption of healthcare information technology (HIT) has been advocated by various groups as critical for addressing the growing crisis in the US healthcare industry. This study aims to understand differences in patient outcomes between healthcare providers that do and that do not adopt HIT. This is accomplished by examining the relationships between the adoption of HIT in US acute care hospitals and two risk-adjusted patient outcomes: patient safety and quality. The new contribution of the study lies in the fact that it uses nationally representative data and it incorporates a large number of technologies.

Keywords: healthcare information technology; HIT; care quality; patient safety; technology adoption; health outcomes; acute care hospitals; heathcare technology; electronic healthcare; e-healthcare; patient outcomes; USA; United States; patient care.

DOI: 10.1504/IJHTM.2015.070519

International Journal of Healthcare Technology and Management, 2015 Vol.15 No.1, pp.31 - 48

Accepted: 18 Oct 2014
Published online: 09 Jul 2015 *

Full-text access for editors Full-text access for subscribers Purchase this article Comment on this article