The Promise of CPOE

Modern Healthcare
June 16, 2008

Todd Sloane is on the right track in identifying computerized physician order entry as "low-hanging fruit" in the hunt for information technologies worthy of wider adoption ("A shove toward IT," June 2, p.22).  But his comment that studies have been"inconclusive" on CPOE's effectiveness in saving lives and money overlooks one by the New England Healthcare Institute and the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative.

In a report published in February, we found that a staggering 10% of patients at six community hospitals suffered a preventable medication injury and that these erors could be substantially reduced with CPOE, preventing as many as 55.000 errors a year and saving hospitals $170 million annually in Massachsuetts alone.

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