Labor Markets and Technological Change: Evidence from Electronic Health Records

Abstract

Technology adoption in health care has the potential to improve patient outcomes, and in some cases, decrease costs. However, new technologies can also be burdensome for physicians. I add to our understanding of how new technology can affect its users by investigating changes in physician behavior as a result of a major technology shift in US hospitals, electronic health records (EHRs). I treat EHR adoption in hospitals as an exogenous shock to hospitalists, and estimate average group time treatment effects on various labor market outcomes. I find that hospitalists are more likely to leave clinical work altogether, and more likely to shift work to an office setting due to EHRs. For hospitalists that continue working in the hospital, EHRs lead to an increase in patients seen. These findings inform the full costs and benefits of technology adoption, relevant to both technology adopters and policymakers who incentivize technology adoption.