P 631
Electronic versus paper-based patient record comparison of costs and benefit for an University Eye Hospital
A. S. Neubauer, O. Ehrt
Background: Aim of this study is to compare costs and benefit of an electronic, paperless patient record to the conventional paper-based chart.
Methods: Costs and benefit of an electronic patient record are calculated for a University Eye Hospital with 140 beds. Benefit is determined by direct costs saved by the electronic record.
Results: In the example shown, the additional benefit of an electronic patient record, as far as it can be quantified well, sums up to 192 000 DM (98 168 ) per year. The costs of necessary investions reach 234 000 DM (119 642 ) per year when using a linear depreciation of 4 years. In total, there are an additional annual costs for an electronic patient record of 42 000 DM (21 474 ). When increasing the time of depreciation to 6 years, the cost deficit reduces to only 8 667 DM (4 431 ). However, several benefits of the electronic record regarding research, teaching, quality control and better data access cannot be quantified well. They would increase the benefit to cost ratio.
Discussion: Only part of the advantages of an electronic patient record can be quantified well as costs saved directly. The small cost deficit calculated in this example is overcompensated by several benefits, which can only be enumerated qualitatively due to problems in quantification.
Department of Ophthalmology, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität Munich, Mathildenstr. 8, 80336 München, Germany