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Health IT Adoption in German Hospitals: Could We See Any Changes Between 2017 and 2023?
Ursula H. Hübner, Jana Strate, Lea Bicker, Laura Naumann, Johannes Thye, Moritz Esdar, Jan David Liebe
2 - 10
10.3233/SHTI240831
Research Article
Studies in Health Technology and Informatics
Volume 317: German Medical Data Sciences 2024
Abstract

Introduction:

Increase in health IT adoption is often driven by financial support through the state. In 2020, the German Hospital Future Law passed Parliament with a schedule to see potential effects in 2023. The research question of the present study thus was if there were differences between 2017 and 2023 in selected application areas eligible for funding by the law.

Methods:

Availability and percentage of use in clinical units was measured in a panel of 172 hospitals for these areas. A linear mixed model with repeated measures yielded a significant increase in “medication management” and “discharge management”.

Results and Discussion:

In “medication management”, hospitals in a group as compared to single hospitals tripled the percentage of clinical units using IT systems for this purpose. Not-for-profit hospitals doubled their IT systems for “discharge management” when compared to for-profit hospitals.

Conclusion:

Whether these changes can be attributed to the Hospital Future Law is debatable due to severe delays in various fields, particularly in making funding available. There is room for speeding up particularly the administrative funding process and finally demonstrating results that are proportional to the government money invested.

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