Return on investment analysis for a computer-based patient record in the outpatient clinic setting

• HIT Description: Hypothetical ambulatory electronic health record (AEHR) systems. More info...
  
• Purpose of Study: Describe a ROI framework to evaluate the costs and benefits of implementing AEHR systems
  
• Years of study: Not Available
  
• Study Design: Illustrative return-on-investment (ROI) analysis
  
• Outcomes: Predicted impact on efficiency, utilization, quality, and costs
  

• Settings: Hypothetical small independent outpatient clinic.
• Evaluation Method: Description of the framework of Return on Investment and discussion of various parameters categorizing into costs and benefits, that can be used for calculation of ROI for AEHR systems. Gave examples from hypothetical scenario and published studies.
• HIT System: Hypothetical ambulatory electronic health record (AEHR) systems.
• Costs: o The author argued that calculating costs of an AEHR system should consider costs of hardware, software, network, maintenance, installation and training, and opportunity cost. Each cost item was described with ramifications in texts but no costing was attempted.
• Clinical Outcomes: The author illustrated potential benefits of AEHR in improving various aspects of the quality of care, such as preventing adverse drug events and injuries, and improving the delivery of appropriate preventive and health maintenance procedures.
• Benefits: The author conceptualized intangible nonquantifiable benefits of an AEHR system, including improving the business process of care, and enhancing provider and patient satisfaction.
• Changes in efficiency and productivity: In his example of 3-physician practice, the author illustrated monetary benefits of an AHER system as a result of improved productivity as: (not stated as to year, presumably 2000 or 2001 dollars) The authors listed other non-quantified benefits of productivity improvement, including automatically generated electronic prescriptions, improved cash flow, reduction in malpractice premium, reduction in healthcare resource utilization, and improved formulary compliance