AHRQ Study: Fully Electronic Health Record Associated With Lower Odds of In-Hospital Adverse Events

AHRQ Study: Fully Electronic Health Record Associated With Lower Odds of In-Hospital Adverse Events

Cardiovascular, pneumonia and surgery patients exposed to fully electronic  health records were less likely to experience in-hospital adverse events,  according to a new AHRQ study. Using 2012 and 2013 Medicare Patient  Safety Monitoring System data, researchers examined the association of  hospitals' electronic health records adoption and occurrence rates of  in-hospital adverse events. The primary outcomes evaluated were the  occurrence rates of 21 in-hospital adverse events, classified by four clinical  domains: hospital-acquired infections, adverse drug events, general events  (such as falls and pressure ulcers) and postprocedural events. Among  the more than 45,000 patients who were at risk for nearly 350,000 adverse  events in the study sample, 13 percent were exposed to fully electronic  health records. Among all study patients, the occurrence rate of adverse  events was 2.3 percent (7,820 adverse events). Patients exposed to fully  electronic health records, however, had 17–30 percent lower odds of any  adverse event.  A blog post about the study has been published online in the AHRQ Views  Blog. The study, “Electronic Health Records Adoption and Rates of In-Hospital  Adverse Events,” and abstract appeared in the February issue of the Journal  of Patient Safety.