EHRs May Improve Risk Management By:

Providing clinical alerts and reminders

Improving aggregation, analysis, and communication of patient information

Making it easier to consider all aspects of a patient’s condition

Supporting diagnostic and therapeutic decision making

Gathering all relevant information (lab results, etc.) in one place

Support for therapeutic decisions

Enabling evidence-based decisions at point of care

Preventing adverse events

Providing built-in safeguards against prescribing treatments that would result in adverse events

Enhancing research and monitoring for improvements in clinical quality

Certified EHRs May Help Providers Prevent Liability Actions By:

Demonstrating adherence to the best evidence-based practices

Producing complete, legible records readily available for the defense (reconstructing what actually happened during the point of care)

Disclosing evidence that suggest informed consent

EHRs can improve public health outcomes

EHRs can also have beneficial effects on the health of groups of patients.

Providers who have electronic health information about the entire population of patients they serve can look more meaningfully at the needs of patients who:

Suffer from a specific condition

Are eligible for specific preventive measures

Are currently taking specific medications

This EHR function helps providers identify and work with patients to manage specific risk factors or combinations of risk factors to improve patient outcomes.

For example, providers might wish to identify:

How many patients with hypertension have their blood pressure under control

How many patients with diabetes have their blood sugar measurements in the target range and have had appropriate screening tests

This EHR function also can detect patterns of potentially related adverse events and enable at-risk patients to be notified quickly.

Studies Show: Better Patient Outcomes With EHRs

Using EHR Prompts & Reminders to Improve Quality of Patient Care 3

High Patient Satisfaction

92% were happy their doctor used e-prescribing.

90% reported rarely or only occasionally going to the pharmacy and having prescription not ready.

76% reported it made obtaining medications easier.

63% reported fewer medication errors.

High Provider Satisfaction

Reduced overall rate of after-hours clinic calls.

Using EHRs to Improve Quality of Care 4

Improved Quality of Care Screenings

Breast Cancer

Diabetes

Chlamydia

Colorectal Cancer

Increase in Services

Blood pressure control for patients with hypertension

Breast cancer screenings

Recording of body mass index and blood testing for patients with diabetes

Using EHR Decision Support to Improve Asthma Care and Compliance 5

The Study

Cluster randomization of clinics

Intervention: Clinical decision support (CDSClinical decision support) embedded in EHR

Outcomes

6% greater use of controller medications (preventive or maintenance medications to help prevent asthma symptoms from occurring)

3% greater use of spirometry (a common office test used to diagnose asthma and other conditions that affect breathing)

14% greater use of asthma care plan

Spirometry improved by 6% in suburban practices

EHRs Transforming the Clinical Process 6

A community hospital in Vermont recently implemented and EHR and reported:

60% decrease in near-miss medication events

20% increase in completion of daily fall assessment helping to avoid prolonged hospital stays

25% drop in the number of patient charts needing to be pulled for signing orders and dictated reports

Using EHRs to Improve Documentation and Coding 7

Based on level of medical decision-making, ~50% of visits under-coded

Rural family practice implementing EHR + Practice Management (EPM) system

Increased case mix (type or mix of patients treated by a hospital or unit) by 10% over 2 years from 1.34 to 1.47

EHR documentation templates in multi-specialty clinic

Increased use of ICD code 99214 by 11%

Average billable gain of $26/patient

Increased revenue by >100K during the study period