A report released in July by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality at HHS found that physicians and clinicians have difficulty finding health IT products that monitor the health of patient populations within specific physician groups or primary care practices, InformationWeek reports.
The report evaluated the use of technology that accumulates practice-based population health data, an approach that utilizes information from patients in one or several practices to improve care and clinical outcomes for all of a practice’s patients.
A PBPH approach can help physicians and practices:
Conduct comprehensive health promotion and disease management programs;
Compile lists of patients to invite to educational sessions, such as how to quit smoking;
Determine which patients to contact in the event of a medication recall; and
Identify potential participants for clinical trials.
The report, based on interviews with physicians and other practice staff members, found that practices with EHRs performed more PBPH functions than those with paper medical records.
To overcome barriers to PBPH adoption, the report states that there is a need for:
Technological innovation;
Greater availability of data;
New reimbursement methods;
Altering physician views of care delivery; and
Changes to practice workflows.
The study also determined that many practices had difficulty finding products with PBPH functions or products that meet their PBPH functionality needs (Lewis, InformationWeek, 8/11).
