Relative bed allocation for COVID-19 patients, EHR investments, and COVID-19 mortality outcomes

Managing flexibility in the relative bed allocation for COVID-19 and non-COVID-19 patients was a key challenge for hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on organizational information processing theory (OIPT), we propose that the local electronic health record (EHR) systems could improve patient outcomes through improved bed allocation in the local area. In an empirical analysis of county-level weekly hospital data in the US, relative capacity of beds in hospitals with higher EHR was associated with lower 7-, 14-, and 21-day forward-looking COVID-19 death rate at the county-level. Testing for cross-state variation in non-pharmaceutical interventions along contiguous county border-pair analysis to control for spatial correlation varying between state variations in non-pharmaceutical intervention policies, 2SLS analysis using quality ratings, and using foot-traffic data at the US hospitals our findings are generally supported. The findings have implications for policymakers and stakeholders of the local healthcare supply chains and EHR systems.