Availability and Quality of Medical Group Data for Chronic Disease Registry Development

Publication Date: April 2003

Publisher: California HealthCare Foundation

Author(s): Neil A. Solomon; Margie Powers; Jodi Simon

Research Area: Health

Type: Report

Abstract:

Outpatient medical groups frequently care for ambulatory patients with chronic diseases such as diabetes, asthma, congestive heart failure, arthritis, and depression. Patients with chronic illness require ongoing, proactive care to monitor progression of the disease, track compliance with and effectiveness of treatment, and detect the occurrence of treatable complications. Providers with access to timely, accurate, and well-organized clinical data can better monitor their patients' care, thereby significantly improving the quality of care they receive. Recognizing this, many medical groups and IPAs have attempted to create and maintain computerized disease registries for their chronically ill patient populations, using encounter, laboratory, and pharmacy data that is largely available in electronic form. Unfortunately, a number of technical, logistical, and resource issues have prevented most organizations from successfully integrating these various data sources electronically and creating viable disease registries. The California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF) has commissioned NAS Consulting to design and assess options for creating computerized disease registries. The goal of the project is to facilitate data integration and improved data management in order to help California medical groups manage patient populations with specific chronic illnesses more effectively. NAS Consulting is designing a range of options within a set of specific parameters.