Most hospitals don’t know value of clinical IT systems

Hospital CFOs, CEOs, and CIOs are unhappy with their organizations’ efforts to measure ROI in their clinical IT systems, reveals a new survey from Beacon Partners, a healthcare management consulting firm.

Measurement woes: While 40% of over 300 hospital C-suite execs surveyed say they are using performance measures in their electronic medical records (EMR) systems, only 36% are satisfied with the extent to which the data is used to measure the value brought to their organization. These systems are typically used to drive clinical quality improvement. However, they should also be viewed as a capital asset of the organization and valued accordingly. The survey also reveals that quality management and IT departments are usually the ones responsible for EMR performance measures.

“We hope that this survey will provide insight into the challenges of measuring ROI and drive executives to collect and evaluate valuable data from their systems and feedback from their employees to maximize returns on their strategic programs,” said Alan Cudney, executive consultant at Beacon Partners, in a news release.