The Impact of Automation and Digitalization in Hospital Medication Management: Economic Analysis in the European Countries.

BACKGROUND/

objectivesEuropean healthcare systems are increasingly adopting automation technologies to improve efficiency. This study evaluates the economic viability of hospital automation and medication management digitalization.

methodsAn economic evaluation was based on a standardized hospital model comprising 561 beds, representative of an average acute care hospital across EU27 + UK. For each technology, several cost items were estimated using country-specific parameters such as labor costs, medication error rates, healthcare expenditure, and money discount rate. The financial metrics (Return On Investment-ROI, Net Present Value-NPV, Payback Time-PBT) were first calculated at the hospital level. These results were then extrapolated to the national level by scaling the per-hospital estimates according to the total number of hospital beds reported in each country. Finally, national results were aggregated to derive the overall European impact.

resultsThe analysis estimated a total European investment of EUR 3.55 billion, with an average PBT of 4.46 years and annual savings of 1,96 billion. ROI averaged 167%, and the total NPV was 8.21 billion. A major saving driver was the reduction in Medication Administration Errors that has an impact of 37.2% on the total savings. Payback times ranged from 3 years in high-GDP countries, to 7 years in lower-GDP nations.

conclusionsThese findings demonstrate how providing structured data on hospital automation benefits could support decision-making processes, highlighting the organizational and economic feasibility of the investment across different European national contexts.