Dive Brief:
- A new study by the Western New York HEALTHeLINK health information exchange has concluded that failure to use clinical data available led to 2,763 potentially duplicate CT scans at a cost of about $1.3 million.
- Findings included that about 90% of potentially unnecessary scans were ordered by doctors who either never or infrequently used the HIE.
- More than 95% of the potentially needless CT scans were done in a hospital setting, the study concluded.
Dive Insight:
It's all well and good that an HIE can save money. The question is how you get doctors working in hospitals to check HIE data before they order the needless scans. Like every other professional, doctors are set in their ways, and without good and thorough training they are unlikely to change their habits. What's more, if the data in HIEs is difficult to access or to use that decreases the likelihood further that they will use it. It seems there is considerably more work to do than simply putting the HIE in place to achieve the cost savings potential it offers.