Box 2.

Evaluation of hospital information systems

Evaluation findings more than 25 years ago showed that hospital information systems were cost effective:

• By 1975 the Charing Cross Hospital, London, had installed a fully integrated patient administration and results reporting system. Evaluation showed reductions in the turnaround times of almost 50% for routine clinical chemistry tests (urea and electrolytes) from 14.8 hours to 7.6 hours, and nearly 90% for a routine haematology (full blood count) from 13.8 hours to 1.6 hours. Time savings in the laboratory amounted to 5.8 minutes per request (specimen). Even at 1970s computer prices, a wide range of hospital applications were fully cost justified¹⁶
• The pioneering Technicon hospital information system at the El Camino Hospital, California, was subject to rigorous evaluation during the mid-70s. This showed inpatient cost per case as 40% less than the county average of 13 similar community hospitals—including a 10% reduction in length of stay, primarily attributable to reduced turnaround times for tests²³
• At Leiden in Holland the costs of processing laboratory tests was shown to be 35% less than at other laboratories with similar levels of test automation. The quantified benefits of the hospital information system were greater than the total computing costs, even including the costs of 21 development staff²⁴