Hospitals that replace paper forms with information technology systems are safer and more efficient, according to a large-scale Johns Hopkins study of more than 40 hospitals and 160,000 patients.
“Patients appear safer and hospital bottom lines may improve when health care information is gathered and stored on computers rather than on paper,” senior author Dr. Neil Powe, of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, said in a statement.
The study of Texas hospitals and patients recently was published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
Researchers rated the quality of the technologies and compared them with discharge information for patients. The study found that hospitals whose electronic systems ranked in the top third had a 15 percent decrease in the chances that a patient would die while hospitalized.
Higher scores for electronic order entry systems were associated with a 9 percent decrease in the chances of death from heart attacks and a 15 percent decrease in the chances for coronary artery bypass procedures, the study found.
Similarly, high scores in computerized systems that guide doctor’s treatment choices were associated with a 21 percent decrease in the chances a patient would develop complications, according to the study.
Hospitals with the highest technology scores also showed significantly lower costs.
Previous studies have focused on one electronic system or a single hospitals, researchers said.
Powe said he hopes the results with encourage more hospitals to go paperless.
– Sara Michael
