Report from the AMIA 2009 Health Policy Meeting - Anticipating and addressing the unintended consequences of health IT and policy

As part of efforts to improve healthcare delivery and reduce healthcare costs, the U.S. has invested considerable resources in health information technology (HIT) and electronic health records (EHRs). The unprecedented availability of funding provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA)/Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) legislation1 is a key factor in spurring a flurry of HIT implementations. The federal Office of the National Coordinator (ONC) for HIT highlights the enormous potential of HIT to yield improvements in patient care, prevention of medical errors, an increase in the efficiency of care provision and a reduction in unnecessary costs, expansion of access to affordable care, and improvements in population health.2 While expectations are high, experience shows that unplanned and unexpected consequences have resulted from major policy and technological changes. Studies have demonstrated that HIT is not immune from this phenomenon.3–9 Thus, it is important to consider the potential unintended consequences that may be engendered by the accelerated adoption of technology.

Read more about the report at JAMIA.