CanadianEMR Awarded Funding to Measure the Value of eHealth

CanadianEMR is pleased to announce that we have been awarded funding from the National Research Council-Industry Research Assistance Program and MITACS to answer the question "What is the value of eHealth in the context of Electronic Medical Record adoption and usage?" Using statistical methodologies and various data sets (including our own) we aim to build a model that will predict the benefits of EMR adoption in relation to the overall value of eHealth based on specific geographic regions or groupings of use.

Research indicates there is very little evidence linking the adoption of EMR systems to patient satisfaction, health outcomes, or even access to health care. Although most believe that EMR adoption has an important part to play in the overall benefits that can be demonstrated through the use of Information Technologies, there is very little evidence to this effect.

From June to September 2008, Greig Pothan, MBA/CMA(Certified Management Accountant) Candidate at UBC Sauder School of Business will be working with CanadianEMR to develop statistical models that can be linked to EMR adoption and satisfaction as a foundational measure in relation to other health and system outcome measures. We believe this will be important work that will inform government, industry and other public bodies regarding the value of investment in EMR in relation to the overall value of eHealth.

For further information, please contact CanadianEMR (e-mail)

To add your thoughts or comments, please click on the 'Comments' link below.

Comments

[Kevin Magee]

Congratulations on the award! This is certainly an area where research is truly wanting and very necessary.

[Ian Furst]

Congrads Alan - that's fantastic. As long as it won't violate confidentiality or research contracts it would be great for you to publish the methods as you come up with them. I'm interested in how you will measure the effect. Is your intent to look at patient outcomes, office efficiency, costs, ????? What will be the gold standard?

[Alan Brookstone]

Thanks Ian. The objective is to respect both confidentiality and research requirements. We are just in the process of developing a model to report on the value of eHealth, collaborating with the BC Medical Association, University of Victoria, Canadian Institute for Health Information, National Physician Survey data and Canada Health Infoway. I am not certain exactly how we will report, but we will definitely publish our methodology as it evolves.