美国医疗信息联网的估计费用Estimates Cost of Nationwide EHRs

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美国医疗信息联网的估计费用.
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<br>RAND Study Estimates Cost of Nationwide EHRs
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<br>September 15, 2005
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<br>Implementation of a nationwide electronic health records network would take about 15 years and cost hospitals about $98 billion and physicians about $17 billion, according to a study by Richard Hillestad and colleagues at RAND, the AP/Las Vegas Sun reports (Neergaard, AP/Las Vegas Sun, 9/14).
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<br>Over the 15-year period, the average annual cost to hospitals would be $6.5 billion and the average annual cost to physicians would be $1.1 billion (CQ HealthBeat [1], 9/14). However, if 90% of providers adopted such a network, annual savings would total $81 billion, including $77 billion from improved efficiency and $4 billion from reduced medical errors, the study found (AP/Las Vegas Sun, 9/14).
<br>The study estimates that an EHR network would reduce adverse drug events in inpatient hospital settings by 200,000 annually and reduce such events in ambulatory settings by two million annually, saving $1 billion annually in hospitals and $3.5 billion in ambulatory settings. For hospitals, about 60% of these savings would be from reduced adverse drug events in patients ages 65 and older, while 40% of savings to ambulatory practices from reduced medication errors would be in patients 65 and older (CQ HealthBeat [1], 9/14).
<br>In addition, the study estimates that a national EHR network would save Medicare about $23 billion annually and save private insurers about $31 billion annually. It projects that the estimated total annual savings of $81 billion would double if providers followed all checkup reminders and other prompts from the system (AP/Las Vegas Sun, 9/14). Currently, about 20% to 25% of hospitals and 15% to 20% of doctors&#039; offices have EHR systems, according to the study (CQ HealthBeat [1], 9/14).
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