Differential Impacts of Four Types of EHR Implementation on Small, Medium, and Large Hospitals

摘要

Hospitals invest in information technology to lower costs and to improve quality of care. However, it is unclear whether these expectations are being met. This study explores EHRs in a hospital environment and investigates their relationship to quality of care and patient safety based on the hospital size. In order to advance research and assimilate knowledge in this area, EHRs are categorized into four functional groups: patient information data, results management, order entry and decision support. This new knowledge will provide a better understanding of the relationship between EHRs and operational outcomes by showing the impact of various EHR functions on patient safety and quality of care. The analyses show that large and medium hospitals implement more EHRs than small hospitals. EHR component analyses show more effects on small and large hospitals while medium hospitals analysis revealed no evidence of change.