Outdated Communication Technologies Cost U.S. Hospitals More than $8.3 Billion Annually May 9, 2013 HIPAA, Technology HIPAA, medical communication tools, physician communications, health IT 0 U.S. hospitals lose a total of $8.3 billion annually due to inefficient communications technology, according to a new report from the Ponemon Institute the Wall Street Journal's "CIO Journal" reports. The report was sponsored by Imprivata, a provider of health care security software and services. For the report, Ponemon surveyed 577 health care and health IT professionals at medical facilities that ranged in size from having fewer than 100 beds to having more than 500 beds. Findings on Communications Tools The survey asked participants about the challenges they encounter in using communications tools, finding that: 52% of respondents said that pagers are inefficient 39% said that Wi-Fi is not available 38% said that their email system is inefficient 36% said that text messaging is not allowed 28% said that personal mobile devices are not allowed Findings on HIPAA's Effects The survey also asked participants about the effects of complying with HIPAA, finding that: 85% of respondents said that HIPAA reduces the amount of time available for delivering care 79% said that HIPAA makes accessing electronic patient data difficult 59% said that the complexity of HIPAA requirements were a major barrier to modernizing the health care system 56% said that HIPAA restricts the use of electronic communications Findings on Time Spent Communicating Survey participants also answered questions related to time spent communicating. The survey found that: Clinicians said they waste an average of 46 minutes daily as a result of using outdated communications technology Clinicians estimated that only 45% of each workday is spent with patients, with the remaining 55% being spent communicating and collaborating with other clinicians, as well as using electronic health record systems and other IT tools 65% of respondents said that they believe that secure text messaging could cut patients' discharge time by 50 minutes Findings on Costs The report estimated that inefficient communications technology causes the U.S. hospital industry to lose: More than $5.1 billion annually as a result of decreased physician productivity and the decreased time that physicians have available to spend with patients About $3.2 billion annually as a result of lengthy patient discharge times Source: California Healthline, May 9, 2013. Comments are closed.
