Parent Partners: Evaluation of a Novel Peer-Support Intervention for the Caregivers of Children Hospitalized for Behavioral Health Conditions.

Objective: Nearly 10% of all hospitalized children have a primary behavioral health diagnosis, but the effectiveness of treatment can be limited by caregivers' challenges navigating the behavioral health system. In this study, we assessed a novel peer-support intervention ("parent partners") designed for the caregivers of children admitted to an inpatient psychiatric unit.

Methods: We used a mixed-methods approach including 1) document review and interviews to assess implementation and 2) a difference-in-differences analysis using claims for Medicaid-enrolled children admitted to the intervention inpatient psychiatric unit and matched comparison children admitted to other inpatient psychiatric units to assess the impacts on health care use after discharge.

Physician EHR Adoption and Potentially Preventable Hospital Admissions among Medicare Beneficiaries: Panel Data Evidence, 2010-2013.

Objective: To test for correlation between the growth in adoption of ambulatory electronic health records (EHRs) in the United States during 2010-2013 and hospital admissions and readmissions for elderly Medicare beneficiaries with at least one of four common ambulatory care-sensitive conditions (ACSCs).

Data Sources: SK&A Information Services Survey of Physicians, American Hospital Association General Survey and Information Technology Supplement; and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Chronic Conditions Data Warehouse Geographic Variation Database for 2010 through 2013.

Study Design: Fixed effects model estimated the relationship between hospital referral region (HRR) level measures of physician EHR adoption and ACSC admissions and readmissions.

Meaningful Use of Electronic Health Records and Medicare Expenditures: Evidence from a Panel Data Analysis of U.S. Health Care Markets, 2010-2013.

Objective: To determine if recent growth in hospital and physician electronic health record (EHR) adoption and use is correlated with decreases in expenditures for elderly Medicare beneficiaries.

Data Sources: American Hospital Association (AHA) General Survey and Information Technology Supplement, Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Analytics survey, SK&A Information Services, and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Chronic Conditions Data Warehouse Geographic Variation Database for 2010 through 2013.

Study Design: Fixed effects model comparing associations between hospital referral region (HRR) level measures of hospital and physician EHR penetration and annual Medicare expenditures for beneficiaries with one of four chronic conditions.

Does health information exchange reduce redundant imaging? Evidence from emergency departments.

Background: Broad-based electronic health information exchange (HIE), in which patients' clinical data follow them between care delivery settings, is expected to produce large quality gains and cost savings. Although these benefits are assumed to result from reducing redundant care, there is limited supporting empirical evidence.

Objective: To evaluate whether HIE adoption is associated with decreases in repeat imaging in emergency departments (EDs).

Characteristics associated with hospital health IT vendor switching and dropping.

While a growing body of research has investigated the diffusion of health IT among providers, no empirical research has yet focused on health IT vendor switching by hospitals. Vendor switching is one indicator of a competitive commercial vendor market, and competition among vendors can spur innovations which contribute to better products over time. This study examines the interaction of hospitals with commercial vendors in the recent past to serve as a baseline for future investigations into how the federal health IT incentive program influences changes in the vendor market and vendor-provider relationships.

Understanding meaningful outcomes.

This commentary is meant to set the stage for further discussion about how the objective of a learning healthcare system can be advanced through better specifying requirements to support secondary data use. Recent federal initiatives seek to foster widespread health information technology adoption in the hopes of improving the efficiency and efficacy of our nation's health system. Development of a framework for codifying clinical outcomes would support those objectives primarily though making it easier to uncover associative patterns in patient care data.