Electronic Records Cut Cardiac Risk

An intensive disease management program that leverages health information technology can reduce the risk of death in patients with heart disease and lower health care costs, a new study finds.

Kaiser Permanente Colorado enrolled 628 people in its Kaiser Permanente Collaborative Cardiac Care Service, a population disease management program. A separate group of 628 matched patients received standard care.

People in the intensive disease management program "had an 89 percent reduction in overall mortality and 88 percent reduction in cardiac mortality compared with patients receiving standard care," according to a news release distributed by Kaiser this week.

The three- to six-month program seeks to deliver evidence-based treatments of the type that are supported by electronic medical records. Patients released from the hospital are assigned a personal nurse who helps them to make healthy lifestyle changes. A personal clinical pharmacy specialist manages medications known to decrease the risk of heart disease. According to Kaiser:

Electronic medical records and computerized disease registries help the clinicians coordinate the care. For example, the electronic tools notify the clinical pharmacist if a patient forgets to pick up a prescription or a cholesterol test shows a change in medication is needed. Using this electronic data, clinical pharmacists can proactively [reach out] to the patient to support them in making necessary changes.

Most of the care is delivered by nurses and pharmacists working under the direction of a doctor. For that and other reasons, health care costs for patients in the program were $60 less per day than for patients receiving standard care, an annual difference of $21,900 per patient.

The biggest savings were in the cost of hospitalizations, which averaged $19 per day for patients in the study. The per-day cost of hospitalizations for patients in the control group was $69.