A Randomized Trial of Electronic Clinical Reminders to Improve Quality of Care for Diabetes and Coronary Artery Disease
- Thomas D Sequist,
- Tejal K Gandhi,
- Andrew S Karson,
- Julie M Fiskio,
- Donald Bugbee,
- Michael Sperling,
- E Francis Cook,
- E John Orav,
- David G Fairchild,
- David W Bates
- Affiliations of the authors: Division of General Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School (TDS, TKG, DWB, DGF, EFC, EJO, JMF); the Department of Health Care Policy, Harvard Medical School (TDS); the General Medicine Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital (ASK); and Partners HealthCare System (DB, MS), Boston, MA
- Correspondence and reprints: David W. Bates, MD, MSc, Brigham and Women's Hospital, 1620 Tremont Street, Boston, MA 02120; e-mail: <dbates{at}partners.org>
- Received 30 December 2004
- Accepted 23 March 2005
Abstract
Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of an integrated patient-specific electronic clinical reminder system on diabetes and coronary artery disease (CAD) care and to assess physician attitudes toward this reminder system.
Design We enrolled 194 primary care physicians caring for 4549 patients with diabetes and 2199 patients with CAD at 20 ambulatory clinics. Clinics were randomized so that physicians received either evidence-based electronic reminders within their patients' electronic medical record or usual care. There were five reminders for diabetes care and four reminders for CAD care.
Measurements The primary outcome was receipt of recommended care for diabetes and CAD. We created a summary outcome to assess the odds of increased compliance with overall diabetes care (based on five measures) and overall CAD care (based on four measures). We surveyed physicians to assess attitudes toward the reminder system.
Results Baseline adherence rates to all quality measures were low. While electronic reminders increased the odds of recommended diabetes care (odds ratio [OR] 1.30, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.01–1.67) and CAD (OR 1.25, 95% CI 1.01–1.55), the impact of individual reminders was variable. A total of three of nine reminders effectively increased rates of recommended care for diabetes or CAD. The majority of physicians (76%) thought that reminders improved quality of care.
Conclusion An integrated electronic reminder system resulted in variable improvement in care for diabetes and CAD. These improvements were often limited and quality gaps persist.
Footnotes
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This work was presented in part at the 2003 Society of General Internal Medicine Annual Conference in Chicago, IL.
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Supported by grant 5 U18 HS011046 from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality as part of the Translating Research into Practice (TRIP) program.
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The authors thank the study participants, including the patients and the primary care physicians within the Partners HealthCare System.
