ArticleIsrael journal of health policy research2025
The impact of electronic health records on the ordering of medical tests.
Article in Israel journal of health policy research, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
1 citing paper in PubMed.
- Incompleteness of Electronic Health Records: An Impending Process Problem Within Healthcare.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundHealthcare facilities often encounter patients with incomplete records from previous visits, leading to duplicated tests. Recent Electronic Health Records (EHR) investments aim to address this issue. This study examines how viewing patient information via OFEK EHR affects the frequency of tests ordered by the physician. The OFEK system, developed in Clalit Health Services, is an advanced online medical records system used in hospitals. It was expanded to all hospitals and HMOs starting in 2013, allowing medical information to be shared and accessed in the Israeli healthcare system.
methodsThe study was conducted at the Israel Center for Medical Simulation (MSR), with 26 physicians engaged in encounters with simulated patients (SP). The SPs provided relevant clinical histories and signs for two abdominal pain cases. The physicians ordered diagnostic tests, and after receiving the tests' results they set a final diagnosis and could order additional tests. They had randomized access to the OFEK system to vary test-ordering patterns. In both scenarios, we examined three key variables to see if access to the OFEK system influenced the decision to order diagnostic tests ("QTestsBefore" - the number of tests ordered by the physician after the patient visit; "QTestsAfters" - the number of tests ordered by the physician after receiving the results of the first round; "QSumTests" - The total number of tests).
resultsIn the study group with access to the OFEK EHR, an average of 5.5 tests were ordered, compared to 6.85 in the control group (p-value = 0.01). Ordinary Least Squares regressions confirmed that the overall number of tests, particularly the second round ordered after receiving initial results, was significantly lower with OFEK. Additionally, years of clinical practice also correlated with fewer ordered tests.
conclusionsThe findings show that the OFEK EHR system reduces the number of medical examinations by allowing physicians to access medical histories and past tests, which supports efficient decision-making. This leads to fewer ordered medical tests and, thus, reduces the time procedures patients spend in EDs or hospitals. Efficient decision-making and fewer redundant medical tests can improve patient flow, free up resources, and reduce overcrowding in emergency departments.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What Socratic holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.