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Healthcare information management and operational cost performance: empirical evidence

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Abstract

Healthcare knowledge management systems can mitigate hospitals’ operational inefficiency. As a healthcare information technology, the electronic health record (EHR) receives much attention from medical institutions due to its considerable impact on operational cost performance. This paper focuses on EHR systems to address operational inefficiency by which patients pay more for health care services, and many U.S. hospitals are filing for bankruptcy. From the theoretical perspective of the practice-based view, this paper introduces a path to implement EHR systems for improving cost performance. The empirical investigation is archival data of 200 hospitals collected from the U.S. healthcare agencies. Findings contribute to prior work by hypothesizing moderating and mediating roles in EHR systems implementation. This paper introduces absorptive capacity and monitoring mechanisms as enablers of implementing EHR systems. The results showed that hospital monitoring strengthens the relationship between absorptive capacity and electronic health record systems implementation, which results in better operational cost performance. Theoretically, this study supports the long-term potential benefits of EHR adoption, and its findings are consistent with optimizing efficiency through data standardization and interoperability. From a practical perspective, this study supports hospitals' investments in evolving healthcare information technology systems through the development of a knowledge-based system employing EHR, particularly when hospitals are merging or need a financial strategic plan to control expenses.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to express our sincere gratitude to the anonymous reviewers and Editors-in-Chief for their insightful comments, valuable suggestions, and meticulous review of our manuscript. Their expertise and constructive feedback greatly contributed to the improvement and quality of this paper. We deeply appreciate the time and dedication they devoted to assisting us throughout the publication journey.

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  1. Department of Marketing and Supply Chain Management, Willie A. Deese College of Business and Economics, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Greensboro, NC, 27401, USA

    Amit S. Malhan & Kiarash Sadeghi-R

  2. Department of Information Technology and Decision Sciences, G. Brint Ryan College of Business, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, 76203, USA

    Robert Pavur

  3. Department of Marketing, G. Brint Ryan College of Business, University of North Texas, Denton, TX, 76203, USA

    Lou Pelton

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Malhan, A.S., Sadeghi-R, K., Pavur, R. et al. Healthcare information management and operational cost performance: empirical evidence. Eur J Health Econ 25, 963–977 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10198-023-01641-3

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