The impact of health information technology on cancer care across the continuum: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Introduction Health information technology (HIT) has the potential to play a significant role in the management of cancer. The purpose of this review is to identify and examine empirical studies that investigate the impact of HIT in cancer care on different levels of the care continuum. Methods Electronic searches were performed in four academic databases. The authors used a three-step search process to identify 122 studies that met specific inclusion criteria. Next, a coding sheet was used to extract information from each included article to use in an analysis. Logistic regression was used to determine study-specific characteristics that were associated with positive findings. Results Overall, 72.4% of published analyses reported a beneficial effect of HIT. Multivariate analysis found that the impact of HIT differs across the cancer continuum with studies targeting diagnosis and treatment being, respectively, 77 (P =.001) and 39 (P =.039) percentage points less likely to report a beneficial effect when compared to those targeting prevention. In addition, studies targeting HIT to patients were 31 percentage points less likely to find a beneficial effect than those targeting providers (P =.030). Lastly, studies assessing behavior change as an outcome were 41 percentage points less likely to find a beneficial effect (P =.006), while studies targeting decision making were 27 percentage points more likely to find a beneficial effect (P =.034). Conclusion Based on current evidence, HIT interventions seem to be more successful when targeting physicians, care in the prevention phase of the cancer continuum, and/or decision making. An agenda for future research is discussed.