AHRQ offers health IT evaluation guide
Friday, July 24, 2009
By Mary Mosquera
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality has published a step-by-step guide for providers to evaluate their health information technology projects to help project managers determine the actual cost, benefits and effectiveness of their IT investments.
Health IT is typically put in place to improve clinical care processes, health care quality and patient safety without following up on the evidence that would illustrate the systems’ effects, according to the group that developed the guide for AHRQ, led by Dr. Caitlin Cusack, health IT program manager at the National Opinion Research Center of the University of Chicago.
AHRQ published the guide earlier this month.
Health IT projects require hefty investments, and stakeholders expect data about the actual and future value of these projects. Evaluations must be viewed as an integral piece of every project, Cusack said.
“Evaluations allow us to analyze our predictions about our projects and to understand what has worked and what has not,” she said.
The information could help convert late adopters and others resistant to health IT.
The evaluation guide walks users through the process of determining the health IT project goals, what needs to be measured and how. The guide provides possible measures to evaluate, such as preventable adverse drug events, medication errors and patient attitudes. It also includes measures that affect workflow and financial management.
The guide suggests data sources, cost considerations and potential risks. It offers examples of health IT projects with recommended evaluation methods for each, including for computerized provider order entry and picture archiving and communication systems.
AHRQ, an agency of the Health and Human Services Department, has awarded numerous grants to providers and other healthcare professionals to demonstrate results with health IT and to develop technical assistance that other providers can share through the agency’s National Resource Center at http://healthit.ahrq.gov/portal/server.pt?open=512&objID=650&PageID=0&parentname=ObjMgr&parentid=106&mode=2&dummy= .
