Better diabetes care with e-Health
September 13, 2013
THE use of electronic health
records in clinical settings has
been associated with a decrease
in hospitalisations for diabetes
with patients, according to a study
published in the Journal of the
American Medical Association.
The research looked at the
medical records of about 170,000
diabetic patients in the clinical
registry of health group Kaiser
Permanente, before and after it
implemented an electronic health
records system.
They found that patients visited
the emergency room 29 fewer
times per 1000 patients, and were
hospitalised 13 fewer times per
1000 patients annually after the
system was installed.
“Using the electronic health
record in the outpatient setting
improved the quality of care in
ways that cumulatively resulted in
fewer negative events,” said study
lead author Mary Reed.
The KP HealthConnect system
allows all Kaiser Permanente
clinicians to electronically access
their patients’ medical records, and
is directly connected to a patientaccessible
online ‘My Health
Manager’ at the firm’s website.
There was no significant change
in the number of doctors’ visits for
patients with diabetes before and
after the system was implemented.
Reed said that the decline in
visits to emergency departments
represented not just improvements
in diabetes care, but was likely
due to the cumulative effect of
eHealth across “many different care
pathways and conditions”.
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