GAO: Electronic Health Records Boost Quality of Care
By
John Pulley
Vendors of electronic health records frequently market their products as an effective way to improve patient care. Truth in advertising? No less of an authority than the Government Accountability Office says, yes, it is true -- at least for a sampling of large, complex health care providers.
According to the GAO report, Health Care Delivery: Features of Integrated Systems Support Patient Care Strategies and Access to Care, but Systems Face Challenges, EHRs expand the amount of available patient data available to health care providers, such as notes about the progress of treatment and medications prescribed to patients, as well as data about patient populations. EHRs also improve communication among providers in integrated health care delivery (IDS) systems.
The report, released Nov. 16, includes several examples of providers using EHRs to improve care. Denver Health, in Colorado, reported that physicians' notes are scanned within 24 hours of a patient visit, and clinical information is available to all providers. At the Mayo Clinic, in Minnesota, EHRs help "avoid overutilization and duplication of services." EHRs in use at the Marshfield Clinic, in Wisconsin, contain a "dashboard" on each patient's record with information on preventive services. The e-record also generates a list of high-risk patients with outcomes "in need of intervention."
Employing physicians full-time and operating health insurance systems were other key factors in improving patient care. Investigators gathered data from 15 public and private systems integrating primary, specialty and acute care and serving medically underserved populations.
Not all of the news is good. Health care systems reported challenges in sharing clinical information from EHRs with outside providers. Although some external providers were able to read information in electronic records, to take one example, they could not enter data into the system.
Health care systems also reported that EHR-enabled e-prescribing and computerized physician order entry reduce errors and costs, among other benefits.