Benchmarking HIT Adoption in European Healthcare Organisations

About the conference

The HIMSS Europe Health IT Leadership Summit, scheduled for 29 September – 1 October 2010 in Rome, Italy, is a new, executive level forum for education, collaboration and dialogue. Top leaders from healthcare, IT and government will convene to help advance the quality of healthcare delivery. The event will feature conference and education sessions as well as a leadership summit designed to foster intensive knowledge exchange and networking opportunities at the most senior level.

Benchmarking HIT Adoption in European Healthcare Organisations
Uwe Buddrus, Managing Director, HIMSS Analytics Europe
HIMSS Europe Health IT Leadership Summit,  29 September – 1 October 2010 Rome, Italy.

Mr. Uwe Buddrus has introduced HIMSS Analytics Europe

HIMSS Analytics Europe (HAE) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). The company collects and analyzes healthcare information related to IT processes and environments, products, IS department composition and costs, IS department management metrics, healthcare trends and purchase-related decisions. HIMSS Analytics Europe delivers high quality products, services, and analytical expertise to healthcare delivery organizations, healthcare IT companies, state and federal governments, financial companies, pharmaceutical companies and consulting firms. HAE’s offerings include comparative Hospital IT adoption benchmarking and a European-formulated EMR Adoption Model (EMRAM) scale to help hospital directors, IT executives and clinicians compare and measure their progress in the adoption and use of healthcare information technology. Country level and application specific reports also provide insights into major IT adoption trends.

and its EMR Adoption Model

Understanding the level of electronic medical record (EMR) capabilities in hospitals is a challenge in the European healthcare IT market today. HIMSS Analytics Europe has adapted the EMR Adoption Model created by HIMSS Analytics and established across the U.S. and Canada. The model identifies the levels of electronic medical record (EMR) capabilities ranging from limited ancillary department systems through a paperless EMR environment. HIMSS Analytics Europe has developed a methodology and algorithms to automatically score hospitals in our database relative to their IT enabled clinical transformation status, to provide peer comparisons for hospital organizations as they strategize their path to a complete EMR and participation in an electronic health record (EHR).

presenting also EMR Adoption Model Modification for Europe

Key proposed modifications are:

1. Stage 1 – can also be achieved if hospitals without Lab, Radiology or Pharmacy are able to process results delivered back to the hospital for online access.
2. Stage 2 – can be achieved if the hospital has either CDR / EPR or a Clinical Data Warehouse installed.
3. Stage 4 – can also be achieved by ePrescribing as a form of CPOE.
4. Stage 5 – can also be achieved if full Radiology-PACS is implemented as  an alternative to closed loop medication (both are required in Stage 6).

Benchmarking HIT Adoption Model includes:

• Data (adopted eHospital Census);
• Information (Statistical analysis and reports);
• Intelligence (Conclusion, Decision and Strategies);
• Successful HIT Adoption.

Questions: Address not only Hospitals but Primary care and the continuum of healthcare.
Reply: Difficulties to measure this  continuum of healthcare around Europe with different health care systems

Questions: How about regional level instead of national level?
Reply: Another challenge to compare data around Europe

Questions: What about patients and Personal Health Records?
Reply: It is too early to measure this around Europe.

Questions: How and why do you place the different applications within the stages? Is it based on USA model?
Reply: There is no consensus around it, it is difficult to identify the same terms and vocabulary around Europe for the same kind of applications.

Questions Representativeness of eHospital census? isn’t better to compare just Hospitals not countries?
Reply: Totally agree

Questions Compare this model with a performance model, even impact assesment?
Reply Key challenge

Questions What about addressing Europe challenges? Privacy and interoperability, reimbursement
Reply Another key challenge

Questions What is the Cost and ROI of moving from stage to stage?
Reply It has not been developed yet, it would be a great work.