COSTS OF MEDICAL RECORDS AND TREATMENT COMPLICATIONS: AN OVERVIEW.

There are various economic costs included in medical treatment and its complications including direct, indirect, and opportunity expenditures. A substantive chunk constitutes indirect costs particularly those related to the process of generating medical records. This article dwells on the medical costs in general, indirect costs relating to the generation and archiving of an ever-increasing volume of patient records both in printed and electronic versions, and the economic market value of medical databases. The calculations and estimates provided in the article are based on data available on the Internet and the authors’ research and empirical evidence gathered in a tertiary surgical referral center. The analysis indicates that well-maintained electronic medical records can reduce the rate of treatment complications by up to 30% by lessening the administrative burden on physicians by making them more attentive to the tasks for which they are trained. A switch from paper-to-electronic medical records could save as many as over 33000 trees being cut down per year in Poland alone. On a world basis, electronic records obviate the potential rental costs for at least 800000 square meters of storage area for paperrun documents. The market value of medical databases covering the medical records of the entire world’s population is estimated at $100 billion. In conclusion, excessive generation of medical records indirectly results in an increased risk of surgical complications contributing to staff fatigue and burnout. It also increases direct treatment costs. Well-maintained medical records supported by artificial intelligence technologies may substantially reduce the number of complications and thus both direct and indirect costs. The generation of a large nationwide or global medical record database, aside from the underlying technological progress and advances in currently used treatments, may lead to substantial fiscal savings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]