Does health information technology improve quality? How?
Health information technology is expected to improve quality and safety by improving the flow of information about treatment options, treatments and patients. Clinical decision support systems provide health professionals with advice on how best to treat a patient. Computerized physician order entry, in which physicians electronically enter patient prescriptions, is expected to reduce adverse drug events by eliminating illegible prescriptions, drug-drug interactions and patient drug allergies. A “low-hanging fruit” of HIT quality improvement, adverse drug events are estimated to cause 770,000 preventable injuries and deaths in hospitals each year. Another 2 million preventable adverse drug events occur in ambulatory settings. Some states are considering ways to help providers share in overall savings to the system by rewarding them for quality—for example, by paying them more for better outcomes of care such as improved control of chronic health conditions. HIT is an integral part of p
