Electronic medical record implementation took approximately six months and led to reduced patient and provider interaction in one outpatient orthopedic clinic, according to a study in The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery.
Researchers used time-driven, activity-based costing to assess the impact of EMR implementation in an outpatient adult reconstruction clinic. Study authors timed 143 patients throughout their visit to the clinic before the hospital system-wide EMR system was implemented and again at two months, six months and two years after implementation.
Here are three study trends:
1. Total labor costs per patient visit increased significantly two months after EMR implementation from $36.88 to $46.04. Providers went from spending 3.3 minutes documenting patient encounters to 7.6 minutes.
2. By six months after implementation, total labor costs were comparable to pre-implementation costs, and they remained similar two years after implementation.
3. After the initial EMR learning period, providers spent more time documenting encounters and less time interacting with patients, spending 10.03 minutes with patients instead of 14.65 minutes prior to implementation.