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November 30, 2009: Researchers affiliated with Harvard institutions are reporting a variation on the theme “the emperor has no clothes” regarding benefits from health information technology, the second such report to become public this week. The latest study, published today in The American Journal of Medicine, says that despite Congressional support to the tune of $19 billion, claims of efficiencies from computerizing hospital system records “rest on scant data.” Even “the 100 banner hospitals that are the most wired” are not seeing any cost savings nor do their electronic medical record systems make the administration of healthcare more efficient, says author David U. Himmelstein, MD., associate professor at Harvard Medical School and former director of clinical computing at Cambridge Hospital. His study was based on a review of 4,000 hospitals over a five-year period that had implemented various levels of electronic records. “The idea from this administration that we’re going to pay for health reform out of savings from electronic medical records is baseless propaganda,” Himmelstein tells HealthLeaders Media. “It may be politically attractive, but it’s nonsense.” Himmelstein’s study is the second this week that disputes the benefits of EMR. Last week, The New York Times reported on a presentation by Ashish K. Jha and Catherine M. DesRoches of Massachusetts General Hospital. They compared 3,000 hospitals at various stages of adoption of computerized health records, and according to the article “found little difference in the cost and quality of care” between those that had adopted and those that hadn’t. [Source] See also: [Projections of savings from health IT are baseless, Harvard researchers say]
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