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Costs vs. Benefits Dave Ross
Health IT Systems: Costs vs. Benefits Dave Ross
Shawn Eastridge
In a recent report outlined by iHealthBeat, it was found that 71% of U.S. physicians believe the use and implementation of Health IT systems will raise health care costs. This should come as no surprise. Adding expensive infrastructure costs money. We should be discussing benefits at what cost, not merely focusing on cost alone. The way to measure Health IT investment lies in the changes it brings to care, best stated in the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s Triple AIM Initiative objectives: Improving the patient experience of care, improving the health of populations, and reducing the per capita cost of health care.

Attaining the goals of Triple AIM, and simply seeking better care, derives from accurate and timely information. Informing the major goals for the nation’s health system comes at a price. In 5 years, after the bulk of healthcare frontline delivery is supported by intelligent EHRs, we will be in a position where we might begin to assess how the EHR information investment changes care (hopefully for the better), improves efficiency, and informs health consumers around issues of cost, quality of care, and population health impact.

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PHII's IIS team offers practical approaches for sustaining IIS modernization beyond implementation by strengthening workforce capabilities, future-visioning, communicating value, and building agency capacity for long-term success.
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PHII Director Vivian Singletary shares her reflections on the past year and looks forward to what 2026 holds.
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Senior informatics analyst Sarah Shaw reflects on last year's Data Modernization Boot Camp and how it spawned their online Data Governance course.
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PHII Director Vivian Singletary celebrates our 2024 public health wins and gets ready for the opportunities and challenges in the new year.
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How Fairfax County’s health department tackled data modernization challenges
In this video, Fairfax County Health Department shared how they’ve tackled various data modernization challenges.
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Communication plays a key role in successful data modernization planning
Shawn Eastridge provides examples of public health jurisdictions emphasizing how communication is key to a successful data modernization plan.
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A use case in IIS considerations for DMI, from Michigan
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