Tracking the delivery of prevention-oriented care among primary care providers who have adopted electronic health records

SummaryBackground: The federal government is investing approximately $20 billion in electronic health records (EHRs), in part to address escalating health care costs. However, empirical evidence that provider use of EHRs decreases health care costs is limited.Objective: To determine any association between EHRs and health care utilization.Methods: We conducted a cohort study (2008–2009) in the Hudson Valley, a multi-payer, multi-provider community in New York State. We included 328 primary care physicians in predominantly small practices (median practice size four primary care physicians), who were caring for 223,772 patients. Data from an independent practice association was used to determine adoption of EHRs. Claims data aggregated across five commercial health plans was used to characterize seven types of health care utilization: primary care visits, specialist visits, radiology tests, laboratory tests, emergency department visits, hospital admissions, and readmissions. We used negative binomial regression to determine associations between EHR adoption and each utilization outcome, adjusting for ten physician characteristics.Results: Approximately half (48%) of the physicians were using paper records and half (52%) were using EHRs. For every 100 patients seen by physicians using EHRs, there were 14 fewer specialist visits (adjusted p < 0.01) and 9 fewer radiology tests (adjusted p = 0.01). There were no significant differences in rates of primary care visits, laboratory tests, emergency department visits, hospitalizations or readmissions.Conclusions: Patients of primary care providers who used EHRs were less likely to have specialist visits and radiology tests than patients of primary care providers who did not use EHRs.Citation: Kaushal R, Edwards A, Kern LM, with the HITEC Investigators. Association between electronic health records and health care utilization. Appl Clin Inf 2015; 6: 42–55http://dx.doi.org/10.4338/ACI-2014-10-RA-0089

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Title: Playing Telephone: Understanding the state of medication decision making in growing healthcare teams in the time of electronic health records (Preprint)

10.2196/preprints.9891 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Kathryn Mercer ◽

Catherine Burns ◽

Lisa Guirguis ◽

Jessie Chin ◽

Maman Joyce Dogba ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Primary Care ◽

Health Care ◽

Decision Making ◽

Electronic Health Records ◽

Shared Decision Making ◽

Primary Care Providers ◽

Shared Decision ◽

Care Providers ◽

Health Records ◽

Electronic Health

BACKGROUND Primary care needs to be patient-centred, integrated and interprofessional to help patients with complex needs manage the burden of medication-related problems. Considering the growing problem of polypharmacy, there is increasing attention on how and when medication-related decisions should be coordinated across multi-disciplinary care teams. Improved knowledge on how integrated EHRs can support interprofessional shared decision-making for medication therapy management is necessary to continue to improve patient care. OBJECTIVE This objective of this study was to examine how physicians and pharmacists understand and communicate patient-focused medication information with each other and how this knowledge can influence the design of electronic health records. METHODS This study is part of a broader cross-Canada study between patients and health care providers around how health-related decisions are made and communicated. We visited community pharmacies, team-based primary care clinics, and independent-practice family physician clinics throughout Ontario, Nova Scotia, Alberta, and Quebec. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with physician and pharmacists. A modified version of the Multidisciplinary Framework Method was used to analyze the data. RESULTS Data was collected at 19 pharmacies and 9 medical clinics and we identified six main themes from 34 health care professionals. Interprofessional Shared Decision Making was not occurring and clinicians made decisions based on their understanding of the patient. Physicians and pharmacists reported indirect Communication, incomplete Information specifically missing insight into indication and adherence, and misaligned Processes of Care further compounded by electronic health records not designed to facilitate collaboration. Scope of Practice examined professional and workplace boundaries for pharmacists and physicians that were internally and externally imposed. Physicians decided on the degree of the Physician/Pharmacist Relationship which was often predicated by co-location. CONCLUSIONS When managing medications, there was limited communication and collaboration between primary care providers and pharmacists. Pharmacists were missing key information around reason for use, and physicians required accurate information around adherence. EHRs are a potential tool to help clinicians communicate information to resolve this issue. EHRs need to be designed to facilitate interprofessional medication management, so that pharmacists and physicians move beyond task-based work toward a collaborative approach CLINICALTRIAL n/a

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Pediatric hypertension: diagnostic patterns derived from electronic health records

Diagnosis ◽

10.1515/dx-2018-0010 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 5 (3) ◽

pp. 157-160 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Goutham Rao ◽

Sara Naureckas ◽

Avisek Datta ◽

Nivedita Mohanty ◽

Victoria Bauer ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Electronic Health Records ◽

Target Organ Damage ◽

Correct Diagnosis ◽

Primary Care Providers ◽

Care Providers ◽

Pediatric Hypertension ◽

Health Records ◽

Factors Associated ◽

Increased Risk ◽

Electronic Health

Abstract Background Pediatric hypertension is a serious problem associated with target organ damage in children and an increased risk for adult hypertension. African-American and Latino children are disproportionately affected. Unfortunately, due to a variety of factors, including the complexity of blood pressure (BP) standards, pediatric hypertension is undiagnosed in the majority of cases. We sought to identify factors associated with correct diagnosis and to better understand diagnosis of hypertension by studying the diagnostic paths of a small number of children. Methods Data were extracted from electronic health records (EHRs) of children who met criteria for hypertension. Logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with correct diagnosis. Diagnostic paths for 20 diagnosed children were extracted through chart review and analyzed. Results Among 1478 hypertensive children, only 85 were diagnosed (6.1%). Age ≥12 compared to age ≤6 was associated with correct diagnosis [odds ratio (OR) of 1.96, 95% confidence interval (CI) (1.16, 3.32)]. Diagnostic paths revealed that primary care providers (PCPs) make the diagnosis based on multiple readings over time and order laboratory tests appropriately. Conclusions Hypertension is missed in a large proportion of all children. Effective, systematic approaches to diagnosis are necessary.

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Preliminary results from the COPE study using primary-care electronic health records and environmental modelling to examine COPD exacerbations

British Journal of General Practice ◽

10.3399/bjgp18x696749 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 68 (suppl 1) ◽

pp. bjgp18X696749 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Maimoona Hashmi ◽

Mark Wright ◽

Kirin Sultana ◽

Benjamin Barratt ◽

Lia Chatzidiakou ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Primary Care ◽

Electronic Health Records ◽

Health Management ◽

Practice Research ◽

Chronic Obstructive ◽

Clinical Practice Research Datalink ◽

Health Records ◽

Preliminary Results ◽

Copd Exacerbations ◽

Electronic Health

BackgroundChronic Obstructive Airway Disease (COPD) is marked by often severely debilitating exacerbations. Efficient patient-centric research approaches are needed to better inform health management primary-care.AimThe ‘COPE study’ aims to develop a method of predicting COPD exacerbations utilising personal air quality sensors, environmental exposure modelling and electronic health records through the recruitment of patients from consenting GPs contributing to the Clinical Practice Research Datalink (CPRD).MethodThe study made use of Electronic Healthcare Records (EHR) from CPRD, an anonymised GP records database to screen and locate patients within GP practices in Central London. Personal air monitors were used to capture data on individual activities and environmental exposures. Output from the monitors were then linked with the EHR data to obtain information on COPD management, severity, comorbidities and exacerbations. Symptom changes not equating to full exacerbations were captured on diary cards. Linear regression was used to investigate the relationship between subject peak flow, symptoms, exacerbation events and exposure data.ResultsPreliminary results on the first 80 patients who have completed the study indicate variable susceptibility to environmental stressors in COPD patients. Some individuals appear highly susceptible to environmental stress and others appear to have unrelated triggers.ConclusionRecruiting patients through EHR for a study is feasible and allows easy collection of data for long term follow up. Portable environmental sensors could now be used to develop personalised models to predict risk of COPD exacerbations in susceptible individuals. Identification of direct links between participant health and activities would allow improved health management thus cost savings.

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Patients’ moral attitudes toward electronic health records: Survey study with vignettes and statements

Health Informatics Journal ◽

10.1177/1460458220980039 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 27 (1) ◽

pp. 146045822098003

Author(s):

Tania Moerenhout ◽

Ignaas Devisch ◽

Laetitia Cooreman ◽

Jodie Bernaerdt ◽

An De Sutter ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Electronic Health Records ◽

De Novo ◽

Information Access ◽

Survey Study ◽

Sensitive Information ◽

Patient Portal ◽

Care Providers ◽

Health Records ◽

Electronic Health ◽

Moral Attitudes

Patient access to electronic health records gives rise to ethical questions related to the patient-doctor-computer relationship. Our study aims to examine patients’ moral attitudes toward a shared EHR, with a focus on autonomy, information access, and responsibility. A de novo self-administered questionnaire containing three vignettes and 15 statements was distributed among patients in four different settings. A total of 1688 valid questionnaires were collected. Patients’ mean age was 51 years, 61% was female, 50% had a higher degree (college or university), and almost 50% suffered from a chronic illness. Respondents were hesitant to hide sensitive information electronically from their care providers. They also strongly believed hiding information could negatively affect the quality of care provided. Participants preferred to be informed about negative test results in a face-to-face conversation, or would have every patient decide individually how they want to receive results. Patients generally had little experience using patient portal systems and expressed a need for more information on EHRs in this survey. They tended to be hesitant to take up control over their medical data in the EHR and deemed patients share a responsibility for the accuracy of information in their record.

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Estimating the population health burden of musculoskeletal conditions using primary care electronic health records

Rheumatology ◽

10.1093/rheumatology/keab109 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Dahai Yu ◽

George Peat ◽

Kelvin P Jordan ◽

James Bailey ◽

Daniel Prieto-Alhambra ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Primary Care ◽

Chronic Pain ◽

Low Back Pain ◽

Back Pain ◽

Electronic Health Records ◽

High Impact ◽

Low Back ◽

Musculoskeletal Health ◽

Health Records ◽

Electronic Health

Abstract Objectives Better indicators from affordable, sustainable data sources are needed to monitor population burden of musculoskeletal conditions. We propose five indicators of musculoskeletal health and assessed if routinely available primary care electronic health records (EHR) can estimate population levels in musculoskeletal consulters. Methods We collected validated patient-reported measures of pain experience, function and health status through a local survey of adults (≥35 years) presenting to English general practices over 12 months for low back pain, shoulder pain, osteoarthritis and other regional musculoskeletal disorders. Using EHR data we derived and validated models for estimating population levels of five self-reported indicators: prevalence of high impact chronic pain, overall musculoskeletal health (based on Musculoskeletal Health Questionnaire), quality of life (based on EuroQoL health utility measure), and prevalence of moderate-to-severe low back pain and moderate-to-severe shoulder pain. We applied models to a national EHR database (Clinical Practice Research Datalink) to obtain national estimates of each indicator for three successive years. Results The optimal models included recorded demographics, deprivation, consultation frequency, analgesic and antidepressant prescriptions, and multimorbidity. Applying models to national EHR, we estimated that 31.9% of adults (≥35 years) presenting with non-inflammatory musculoskeletal disorders in England in 2016/17 experienced high impact chronic pain. Estimated population health levels were worse in women, older aged and those in the most deprived neighbourhoods, and changed little over 3 years. Conclusion National and subnational estimates for a range of subjective indicators of non-inflammatory musculoskeletal health conditions can be obtained using information from routine electronic health records.

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