| Popis: |
Electronic Medical Records (EMR) have the potential to decrease medical expenditures by increasing communication between healthcare providers and reducing the incidence of unnecessary tests and medical errors. Using a three-year panel of out-of-home Medicaid spending for long-term care patients in nursing homes, we analyze the effect of nursing home EMR adoption on out-of-home healthcare expenditures for their residents. First, we find evidence that EMR adoption by nursing homes reduces out-of-home healthcare costs for residents by 3.5%-14%. Second, beyond this direct effect, we find a further reduction of hospitalization costs for residents when hospitals and nursing homes both adopt EMR, which is an average savings of 13% of Medicaid expenditure and as much as 35% for hospitals that are part of a system. Given the interdependent nature of healthcare delivery for long-term care patients or patients with chronic conditions, our findings underscore the importance of looking outside the adopting institution when accounting for health IT (HIT) value. |
