News:Tech-Savvy Hospitals, Better Hospitals?

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(WikiDoc) - Hospitals that “go digital” with electronic medical records and data systems experience fewer deaths and lower costs, according to a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. President Obama has declared digital health records a key focus of his health care reforms, and has proposed spending $50 billion a year for five years to get it done. The Archives study looked at how 41 Texas hospitals used technology and found patients had a 15% lower chance of dying in the most tech-savvy hospitals. But the researchers admit they couldn’t rule out the possibility that those hospitals with fewer deaths were generally “better” hospitals to begin with. Which is exactly what another study just found…
The group HealthGrades took a look at more than 150,000 Medicare patients and found the odds of dying in a top-rated hospital are much lower than at other hospitals. Patients in a top five percent of hospitals had a 27 percent lower death rate than patients in the bottom 95 percent. The researchers also found the top-rated hospitals had an eight percent lower risk of complications. (Archives of Internal Medicine, HealthGrades)