Fully Electronic Health Records Tied to Lower Risk of In-Hospital Adverse Events

Do electronic health records (EHRs) improve patient safety or put patients at risk? That’s the million dollar question.

According to research just published by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the answer is: They improve patient safety, at least in some cases. According to the research, cardiovascular, pneumonia, and surgery patients whose complete treatment was captured in fully EHRs were less likely to have in-hospital adverse events.

The researchers used data from the 2012-13 Medicare Patient Safety Monitoring System. They looked for a link between adoption of EHRs and rates of 21 in-hospital adverse events. The events fell into four categories: hospital-acquired infections, adverse drug events, general events such as falls and pressure ulcers, and postprocedural events. Patients exposed to fully EHRs had 17-30% lower odds of any adverse event.

The study, “Electronic Health Records Adoption and Rates of In-Hospital Adverse Events,” appeared in the February issue of the “Journal of Patient Safety.” (For more information on EHRs and safety, see “Do EMRs take so much time that they threaten patient safety?” Healthcare Risk Management, December 2015.)