Measuring the Effects of Health Information Technology on Quality of Care: A Novel Set of Proposed Metrics for Electronic Quality Reporting

The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety
July 2009

Dr. David Cohen, Vice Chair, Medicine & Senior VP, Clinical Integration & Affiliations, Maimonides Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York and Irene Koch, Esq., Executive Director of BHIX were among a national panel of health care and clinical informatics experts who contributed to The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety study, measuring the effects of Health Information Technology on Quality of Care.  As part of a 36-member national expert panel, Dr. Cohen and Ms. Koch validated the rating process to determine the final metric set which was used to measure the potential quality effects of ambulatory electronic health records with health information exchange.  The novel set of 32 metrics may have broad utility as health information technology becomes increasingly common with funding from the federal stimulus package and other sources. This work may also stimulate discussion on improving how data are entered and extracted from clinically rich, electronic sources, with the goal of more accurately measuring and improving care.

To read the abstract in its entirety, please click here.