The total economic impact of UpToDate – A case study based on the experience of a public and a private hospital in Brazil
Forrester Consulting. A Forrester Total Economic Impact™ Study Prepared for Wolters Kluwer Health. December 2016.
To evaluate the potential financial impact of UpToDate on organizations, Forrester interviewed representatives from a public and a private (nonprofit) hospital in Brazil, both with multiple years of experience using UpToDate.
The analysis was based on a hospital in Brazil with 500 beds, approximately 4,000 employees (including 800 physicians), with 24,000 admissions, 570,000 outpatient visits per year and an annual budget of approximately R$800 million.
UpToDate has potential to improve the quality of care while reducing costs
All interviewed physicians felt that the widespread use of UpToDate improved the quality of care. They noted several potential impact areas, including physician productivity gains, avoidance of unnecessary referrals, reduced length of stay, avoidance of unnecessary diagnostic tests, and increased physician satisfaction.
Conservatively estimating the impact of physician productivity gains and avoidance of unnecessary referrals for a composite hospital, Forrester’s analysis points to quantifiable benefits of R$1.1 million versus total costs of R$270,000, adding up to a net present value (NPV) of approximately R$816,000 over the three years of the analysis (Figure 1).
