Health IT Not Yet Fulfilling Expectations of Savings, Paper Says

Health IT Not Yet Fulfilling Expectations of Savings, Paper Says

By Jane Norman, CQ HealthBeat Associate Editor

The promise that health information technology will save billions of health care dollars annually isn’t yet coming true, according to a report published Monday in the journal Health Affairs.

The analysis by RAND Corporation researchers says that a 2005 study, also by RAND, projected that the rapid adoption of health IT could save the nation $81 billion annually. But the study also said recent data instead show a “mixed” result, with annual health expenditures continuing to grow, though less rapidly than in the past.

The “disappointing” performance of health IT can be linked to shortcomings in design and implementation, says RAND. Systems now on the market are not designed to talk to each other and until recently, providers haven’t had much of an incentive to buy systems that can communicate with other systems, said the report. Often, information stored on one provider network can’t be accessed by another provider.

Also, adoption by providers lags behind that of practitioners in other countries. The most recent data say 40 percent of U.S. doctors and 27 percent of hospitals are using at least a basic electronic health record, said the report. Small groups are less likely to adopt health IT, citing cost and other concerns.

There’s a lack of enthusiasm among doctors and others, too, said the report. “Considering the theoretical benefits of health IT, it’s amazing how few fans it has among health care professionals,” the authors said, speculating that a major reason is the difficulty in using many systems. It’s also challenging for doctors to get information comparing various systems.

Going forward, the country needs a “simple but powerful vision” of how health IT should work, said RAND. Data stored in one system should be retrievable by others, with patient consent. Patients should be able to download their personal health data. And systems should make providers’ work easier, not harder, said the report.