“We also found that the benefits of the technology are beginning to emerge in smaller practices and organizations, as well as in large organizations that were early adopters,” the authors wrote. “However, dissatisfaction with electronic health records among some providers remains a problem and a barrier to achieving the potential of health information technology. These realities highlight the need for studies that document the challenging aspects of implementing health information technology more specifically and how these challenges might be addressed.”
The researchers analyzed more than 150 publications on health information technology to determine its effects on outcomes. Of those publication, 14 assessed quality and efficiency outcomes.
The study cited one study of three New York City dialysis centers that reported that “patient mortality and nurse staffing levels decreased by as much as 48 percent and 25 percent, respectively, in a three-year period” after implementing MIQS’s unique electronic health record software Disease Manager Plus.
Victor Pollak MD, a chronic disease expert, notes that patients need continuous lifetime medical care from many caregivers who need to access the patients’ entire records. MIQS’s software suite manages clinical and business processes in caring for patients with kidney disease, diabetes, dialysis and transplantation. It maintains complete, digitally coded, analyzable lifetime patient medical histories, immediately available anytime anywhere, and it connects treatments and outcomes at the point-of-care and enables continuous improvement with built-in analysis and decision support.
In one 9-year study representing some 4,000 patient years, use of Disease Manager Plus decreased mortality by almost 40 percent when used by physicians to help manage chronic kidney disease patients treated by dialysis—and with 25 percent fewer staff than the average US dialysis unit, according to MIQS.
“We not only need to employ the power of modern IT in healthcare, we need to use it in the right EMR model to reap the benefits of technology to improve the health of our citizens, especially if we want to address chronic disease adequately,” said George Rovegno, CEO of MIQS. “We are pleased we have been able to succeed in applying technology to improve the lives of others.”
