title: Leveraging EHRs to improve hospital performance: the role of management.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Recent studies fail to find a consistent relationship between adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) and improved hospital performance. We sought to examine whether the quality of hospital management modifies the association between EHR adoption and outcomes related to cost and quality.
  
  
  METHODS
  Retrospective study of a random sample of US acute care hospitals.
  
  
  METHODS
  Management quality was assessed via phone interviews with clinical managers predominantly from cardiac units in a random sample of 325 hospitals using a validated scale of management practices in 4 areas: operations, performance monitoring, target setting, and talent management. American Hospital Association InformationTechnology Supplement data captured whether or not these hospitals had at least a basic EHR. Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) outcomes included risk-adjusted 30-day mortality, average length-of-stay, and average payment per discharge measured using MedPAR data. Ordinary least squares regressions assessed whether management quality modifies the relationship between EHR adoption and AMI outcomes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  While we found no association between EHR adoption and our outcomes, management quality modified the relationship in the predicted direction. For length of stay, the coefficient on the interaction between EHR and management was -1.48 (P = .05) and for payment, it was -7786.74 (P = .014). We did not find strong evidence of effect modification for mortality (coefficient = -0.05; P = .37).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Coupled with ongoing policy efforts to achieve nationwide EHR adoption is a growing unease that our national investment may not result in better, more efficient care. Our study is among the first to offer empirical evidence that management quality may help explain why some hospitals see substantial gains from EHR adoption while others do not.
authors: University of Michigan, School of Information, 4376 North Quad, Ann Arbor, MI 48109. E-mail: juliaam@umich.edu.
authors: Julia
authors: J
authors: Adler-Milstein
authors: Kirstin
authors: K
authors: Woody Scott
authors: Ashish K
authors: AK
authors: Jha
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000368:Aged; D057286:Electronic Health Records / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006739:Hospital Administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006742:Hospital Bed Capacity; D017722:Hospital Charges / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007902:Length of Stay / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006278:Medicare / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D010067:Ownership; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014481:United States