Friday, March 6, 2009

WPI studies e-health records

By Marc Songini

A team of experts at Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) is performing a three-year study of health information technology (HIT) systems.

The idea behind the research is to quantify how health IT systems can provide benefits and to gain insight on best practices, WPI announced this week. WPI also noted that the United States is moving toward replacing paper-based medical records with electronic systems, so this is a timely study. The National Science Foundation is funding the project with a $750,000 grant.

Adapting to computer systems is a learning process for primary-care organizations, physicians and patients, according to the study’s investigators. Diane Strong, professor of management at WPI, Sharon Johnson, associate professor of industrial engineering, and Isa Bar-On, professor of mechanical engineering, will be the principal investigators for the study.

In the end, the researchers hope to formulate best practices to guide future HIT rollouts in other medical facilities. The team will focus on primary care providers and see how a HIT system affects medical providers, patients and a health-care delivery system.

The researchers will study four medical organizations — two in the U.S. and one each in Canada and Israel — in various stages of HIT implementation. In the U.S., the study will focus on Fallon Clinic, a large practice located through central Massachusetts. The second will be at UMass Memorial Heath Care, an integrated medical system with 700 primary-care physicians.