Recent reports indicate that optimizing electronic health records (EHRs) can help physicians in chronic disease management.

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How Electronic Health Records
Promote Better Chronic Disease
Management
Recent reports indicate that optimizing electronic
health records (EHRs) can help physicians in chronic
disease management.
MTS Transcription Services
United States

2. www.medicaltranscriptionservicecompany.com (800) 670 2809
According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), up to 81 million
Americans will have multiple chronic health conditions by the year 2020. Caring for people
with chronic disease is a challenge for physicians. Family practice medical transcription services
help primary care physicians (PCPs) manage their electronic documentation needs. Recent
reports indicate that data quality is a crucial factor in helping physicians use electronic health
records (EHRs) for chronic disease management. EHRs can play a key role in tracking patients
and keeping tabs on their condition.
Role of EHRs in Chronic Disease Management
HCV screening: EHR Intelligence recently reported on a new study which found that EHR
prompts can improve hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection screening and treatment among baby
boomers -- people born from 1945-1965. On finding evidence of low rates of HCV screening
in the baby boomer population, researchers at the University of Michigan created an EHR-
based alert in primary care clinics to drive HCV screening and simplify care for patients
diagnosed with the condition.
Hepatitis C can lead to liver damage, cirrhosis, and even liver cancer, but most people with
hepatitis C do not know they are infected. While people of any age can get hepatitis C, baby
boomers are a high risk group. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC), 3 in 4 people with hepatitis C were born from 1945–1965. The reasons for high rates
of hepatitis C among baby boomers is unclear, though the CDC says that they could have
become infected from medical equipment or procedures before universal precautions and
infection control procedures were implemented. HCV screening, a simple blood test, is the
only way of telling if a person has been infected with the virus and the CDC recommends
that all baby boomers get tested.
However, the University of Michigan investigators found that though baby boomers undergo
other preventive measures and tests at their routine medical appointments, they rarely
undergo HCV infection screening.
With the EHR alert that they developed, clinicians no longer need to remember to screen
patients for HCV or validate prior HCV testing or diagnosis of individual patients.
Diabetes: Studies have highlighted the role of EHRs in diabetes management with the
integration of electronic reminders, eHealth technology and e-mail messaging to patients.
EHRs can help organizations improve diabetes care and improve patient outcomes in the
following ways:

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- Generate and meaningfully use patient registries for health care quality improvement,
research, and individual outreach
- Prompt clinicians with care reminders when patients need preventive care, screenings,
or immunizations
- Better connect with and educate patients about self-management techniques
- Create clinical summaries or “patient report cards” so patients can better engage in and
coordinate their care
- Track the trends of diabetes-related tests over time, providing clinicians with the
information needed for efficient decision-making
- Allow clinicians manage prescriptions for patients with diabetes effectively and
efficiently
Medication Adherence: As a report published by www.patientengagementnit.com points
out, medication adherence is a critical component of chronic care management. Patients
who do not take their medications cannot manage their symptoms or work toward
improving their overall wellness. In the report, a PCP describes how the EHR can boost
patient engagement. Patient data within the EHR can be tracked and allow physicians to
make medication adjustments. Tracking patients’ blood pressure, keeps them informed and
engaged about their numbers and what the trends are.
Compliance with Preventive Screenings: A 2015 Physicians Practice report describes
how an internal medicine practice keeps tabs on patients via campaigns organized from
within the EHR. The campaign helped remind patients about annual wellness visits, flu
vaccines, breast cancer screenings and A1C levels for diabetes patients, and improved
compliance with preventive screenings. The practice collects data from its EHR on patient
populations such as women over the age of 50 who have not had a mammogram and those
who have not had a colonoscopy in 10 years. It then contacts them via its patient portal and
asks them to make appointments. The EHR increases compliance with such preventive
screenings, something that would not have been possible with paper charts. The practice’s
office manager pointed out that a large number of patients over the age of 65 used the
system to set up appointments for preventive screenings.
Leverage EHR Infrastructure for Improved Chronic Disease Management
While the EHR is a tool that can make providing better health care easier, but it cannot do
so in isolation. According to the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information
(ONC), EHR-based chronic disease management strategies depend on:

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- Improved health information exchange
- Health data interoperability
- Data integrity and integration
For providers to leverage meaningful health data for better diagnoses and treatment, they
must have access to integrated, interoperable data sources including EHR data or patient-
generated health data. Analysis of the data can identify gaps and areas for improvement.
Patients with chronic disease tend to be older, have multiple conditions, and require the
support of a wider range of healthcare providers. Therefore, the exchange and use of EHR
data by all health care providers on the care team is necessary to improve health care and
outcomes, while decreasing costs.
Optimizing the EHR with quality data is a key criterion. Information must be accurately
entered and coded within the EHR for later search and retrieval. Medical transcription
outsourcing is a practical strategy to ensure error-free, reliable EHR data. Properly
configured alert and reminder systems are also necessary to ensure good processes for
chronic disease management. Finally, it is important to work towards creating an
interoperable health system that allows information flow across the care continuum.