IT Adoption: HealthCare Metrics Tracking

Continuous improvement on core metrics is a goal of any organization. Progress toward these goals occurs over multiple time-periods and process changes and technology adoptions are intended to influence these metrics. Hospitals have been investing in technology for over two decades to improve on patient quality outcomes. This research examines how core patient safety and mortality metrics are impacted by investments in Electronic Medical Record (EMR)systems. The improvements in composite indicators are modeled as latent growth curves with adjustments based on the EMR stage for the individual hospitals. Differing results are identified based on whether the indicators are tracking medical conditions, surgical procedures or composites of all rates tracked. The latent growth model technique shows the EMR stage to be a significant predictor of reductions in hospital mortality rates.