Electronic Immunotherapy Record System (EIRS) is Efficient and Safe Compared to a Paper-Based System (PBS) in a Multi-centered Single Specialty Private Allergy Practice

RATIONALE: CAAC has 10 Denver metropolitan area offices, administering approximately 88,000 IT annually. In 2009, CAAC moved to Meditab's EIRS, which allows computerized patient/procedure tracking. A cost-benefit analysis (CBA) of EIRS compared with PBS was performed. We also asked the questions whether this system was accepted by staff. METHODS: Data were collected from January-April. EIRS was implemented at 5 offices by April, and compared with the 5 offices that remained on PBS during that same time. To perform a CBA, we determined the return on investment (ROI) of the EIRS (hardware, software, maintenance, supplies, training, labor) compared to the PBS. An employee opinion survey (EOP) was conducted. RESULTS: During the study period approximately 30,000 IT were given. The average time for IT was 150 seconds (SD ± 21.8) for the EIRS and 180 (SD ± 5.6) for the PBS (p < 0.001). The total cost for implementation of EIRS was calculated to be $130,000 for all 10 offices; the benefit from saved labor and supplies was calculated to be $65,734 each year. EOP showed 81% of staff preferred EIRS, felt it was more efficient than PBS, and easy to use. CONCLUSION: EIRS improves the documentation and speed of IT by eliminating redundant steps of PBS. It is cost efficient: the ROI is less than 3 years. There was measurable positive acceptance by staff, which was able to learn and incorporate the system quickly. Because EIRS tracks errors and generates reports electronically, it easily works towards reducing errors, thus improving patient safety…