Electronic Health Records & Preventing Healthcare-Associated Infection

The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH), as part of the American Reinvestment & Recovery Act of 2009, was created to accelerate the pace of technology diffusion in the American healthcare system. The promulgation of this health policy led to the Meaningful Use incentive program - a $30 billion initiative to transform healthcare delivery in hospitals through the advanced implementation of electronic health records system technology. The potential of health information technology to transform healthcare delivery and patient outcomes has been demonstrated in innumerable studies; however, there has been limited research on its effect on antimicrobial stewardship in association with healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). To meet this research need, Dr. Eric Weaver conducted a retrospective cross sectional patient-level study using the data from the Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Survey and the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) datasets to determine the relationship between advanced EHR use and MRSA rates in hospitals.