A Quality, Benefit, Cost, and Financial Framework for Health Information Technology, E-Prescribing: A Delphi Study

Background. Little research has been conducted about the quality, benefits, costs, and financial considerations associated with health information technology (HIT), particularly informatics technologies, such as e-prescribing, from the perspective of all its stakeholders. Objectives. This research effort sought to identify the stakeholders involved in e-prescribing and to identify and rank-order the positives and the negatives from the perspective of the stakeholders to create a framework to assist in the development of incentives and payment mechanisms which result in better managed care. Methods. The Delphi method was employed by enlisting a panel of experts. They were presented with the results of initial research in an online survey of questions which sought to prioritize the quality, benefit, cost, and financial effects of e-prescribing from the perspective of each stakeholder. From the results of this study, a framework was presented to framework experts. Results. The experts added stakeholders and positives and negatives to the initial lists and rank-ordered the positives and negatives of e-prescribing from the perspective of each stakeholder. The aggregate results were summarized by category of stakeholder. The framework experts evaluated the framework. Conclusions. Positives and negatives can be rank-ordered from the perspective of each stakeholder. A useful framework was created.