Relationships Among Administrative Computerization, Hospital Size, and Administrative Expenses.

摘要

The healthcare industry is computerizing administrative functions in an attempt to reduce expenses and remain competitive. This correlational study of 3,088 Medicare-certified, short-term, acute-care hospitals in the United States was based on a general systems theory framework; it sought to examine the relationships among the independent variables of hospital size and administrative computerization and the dependent variable of administrative expenses. Secondary data from Health Information Management Systems Society's surveys and cost reports from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid services were used. Correlation analyses with an alpha of .05 were used to test 3 of the 4 hypotheses; regression analysis was used to test the final hypothesis. Approximately 52% of the variance in administrative expenses was explained by the number of beds, a moderate-to-high relationship. Only 6.3% of the variance in administrative expenses was explained by the amount of administrative computerization, a significant but small relationship. Only 9% of the variance in administrative computerization was explained by the hospital size, a significant but small relationship. The results of this study can be used as a basis to determine whether investment in technology in administration will reduce health care expenses. Appropriate investment in technology can contribute to social change by reducing consumer health care costs.