title: A business case for HIT adoption: effects of "meaningful use" EHR financial incentives on clinic revenue.
abstract: The goal of this study is to describe a framework that allows decision makers to efficiently evaluate factors that affect Electronic Health Record (EHR) adoption and test suitable interventions; specifically financial incentives. The United States healthcare delivery system is experiencing a transformation to improve population health. There is strong agreement that "meaningful use" of Health Information Technology (HIT) is a major enabler in this effort. However it's also understood that the high cost of implementing an EHR is an obstacle for adoption. To help understand these complexities we developed a simulation model designed to capture the dynamic nature of policy interventions that affect the adoption of EHR. We found that "Effective" use of HIT approaches break-even-point and larger clinic revenue many times faster that "average" or "poor" use of HIT. This study uses a systems perspective to the evaluate EHR adoption process through the "meaningful use" redesign as proposed in the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act 2009 in the United States healthcare industry by utilizing the System Dynamics methodology and Scenario Analysis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Engineering & Technology Management, Portland State University, Portland, OR 97239-3098, USA.
authors.forename: Nima A
authors.initials: NA
authors.lastname: Behkami
authors.forename: David A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Dorr
authors.forename: Stuart
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Morrice
mesh_terms: D003198:Computer Simulation; D057286:Electronic Health Records / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D017048:Health Care Costs / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006751:Hospital Information Systems / Q000191:economics* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D018803:Models, Economic; D009922:Oregon; D014600:Utilization Review