Web-Based Application Helps Doctors Improve Care, Studies Conclude

The Panel Support Tool developed by Kaiser Permanente allows physicians to provide better care for patients with diabetes and heart disease, as well as enhanced preventive care, according to two separate studies, Healthcare IT News reports.

The online tool is designed to extract information from electronic health records to assist physicians in managing care for individuals and groups of patients. The tool compares the care patients are receiving with what is recommended by national guidelines.

First Study

The first study — published Oct. 4 in the American Journal of Managed Care — tracked for three years 204 primary care teams using the PST to manage care for 48,344 patients with heart disease and/or diabetes.

The study found that the percentage of care recommendations met every month increased:

• From 67.9% to 72.6% among patients with diabetes; and
• From 63.5% to 70.6% among heart disease patients.

Second Study

The second study — published Oct. 1 in Population Health Management — examined 207 primary care teams using the PST to manage care for 263,509 patients. The study involved 13 different care recommendations.

After 20 months, the online tool improved performance from 72.9% to an average of 80%.

The researchers said a statistically significant increase in delivering care recommendations was noted every four months during the first year of using the PST.

Additional Results

According to researchers, physicians using the tool were able to:

• Improve patient quality scores and provide more recommended care to patients, who currently receive about 50% of recommended preventive care for acute and chronic illnesses; and
• Improve care for healthy and chronically ill patients by providing preventive care to hundreds of patients they would not normally see (Monegain, Healthcare IT News, 10/4).

Adrianne Feldstein — lead author of the first study and a senior investigator at Kaiser Permanente’s Center for Health Research — said using the tool in combination with EHRs “can provide patients with more of the care they are supposed to receive” (Cardiovascular Business, 10/4).

Source: iHealthBeat