Health IT adoption 'represents a powerful force in healthcare going forward.'
The Southeast Michigan Beacon Community, one of 17 projects nationwide awarded federal money to spur health IT initiatives, has announced that although it didn't hit the bull's eye on every mark, the project has achieved six of seven target quality measures for type 2 diabetes patients.
SEMBC was awarded a $16.2 million grant by the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology to use health IT to address Michigan's diabetes epidemic, which currently affects 10 percent of the state population – higher than the national average, which stands at 8.3 percent. SEMBC has used the funding to improve clinical screening rates, launch a health information exchange and develop a community data repository, among other things.
[See also: NY Beacon sees progress despite pitfalls.]
When SEMBC began its efforts in 2011, they set out to achieve specific targets in high impact quality measures related to the care of patients with type 2 diabetes, say leaders of the organization. High impact measures targeted for a 5 percent increase include A1c testing – which measures one's average blood glucose control – LDL testing, foot exams, blood pressure less than 140 over 90, A1c values less than 8.0 and eye exams. Diabetic patients with A1c values greater than 9.0 or unknown were targeted for a 5 percent point decrease.
Working with 46 SEMBC-affiliated private practice and federally qualified health center sites that collectively serve more than 180,000 patients, 18,500 of them with diabetes, clinical transformation and health IT-related tactics implemented resulted in clinical transformation measures reaching up to a 17 percent improvement, according to SEMBC.
Initiatives include:
- Increasing the use of electronic health record system clinical decision support prompts and reminders;
- practice workflow evaluation and modification;
- increasing use of EHR and non-EHR patient educational materials;
- increasing practice-level integration of health information technology;
- using patient health navigators to assist patients with the social determinants of health;
- and care quality and practice management report reviews, among other activities.
Eye exam targets were the only measure not met, officials say. To further address this gap in care, SEMBC officials say they are working with three practices who are piloting on-site retinal eye exam technology that allow patients to receive an eye exam without leaving the office of their primary care provider.
[See also: San Diego Beacon does HIE as a utility .]
The measure experiencing the greatest improvement (17 percent) was the proportion of patients having an A1c value more than 9.0 or unknown. Measures documenting patients having A1c values less than 8.0 and patients having blood pressure less than 140 over 90 also experienced a more than 10 percent improvement (16.6 and 10.9).
"We couldn't be more pleased with the results and are extremely proud of the work that was done by our affiliated physicians and their staff," said Terrisca Des Jardins, director of the Southeast Michigan Beacon Community, in a news release. "Clinical transformation and the adoption of health information technology is hard work, but when you get practice level support like we have, it represents a powerful force in healthcare going forward."
