• Lawrence S Brown, Steven Kritz, Melissa Lin, and Roberto Zavala.
• From the Addiction Research and Treatment Corporation, Brooklyn, NY.
• J Addict Med. 2014 Mar 1; 8 (2): 96-101.

ObjectivesThe Addiction Research and Treatment Corporation evaluated the impact of an electronic medical record system.MethodsA prospective pre- and postimplementation design was utilized that examined the domains of quality, productivity, satisfaction, risk management, and financial performance.ResultsThere were highly statistically significant improvements in timely completion of Annual Medical and 30-Day, 90-Day, and Annual Multidiscipline assessments. There was no statistically significant change in obtaining hepatitis C viral load for hepatitis C antibody-positive patients. The prevalence of risk management events was too low to detect statistically meaningful changes. Patient satisfaction was unchanged pre- and postimplementation, although staff satisfaction trended upward postimplementation. Productivity significantly declined for counseling staff; there was a nonsignificant productivity decline for medical services staff and a nonsignificant productivity increase for case manager staff. Revenue per capita staff increased by 0.6%, while cost per patient visit increased by 5.7%.ConclusionsDespite less robust results than expected, had we not implemented the electronic system, recent changes in documentation and reimbursement for services would have paralyzed our agency.

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