28
Healthcare Journal of Baton Rouge
| September / October 2008 Issue | healthcarejournalbr.com
he delivery of excellent patient care is everyone's goal. It has
been said that the future of medicine will be data driven,
which almost assures that Information Technology (IT) will
be a critical factor in that future. One key area of a data driv-
en future in medicine is the advent of internet-based patient
registries in delivering Quality Assurance (QA). These
patient registries rely solely on patient data housed in a data-
base environment to be effective.
Quality Assurance hinges on physicians and clinicians adhering to gold stan-
dards. The question then becomes, how do you know if you are actually deliv-
ering the highest standard in patient care? This is where Information
Technology (IT) can make a significant contribution. The ability to track
patient data inside a database allows you to perform multiple reporting config-
urations such as benchmarking, practice management, and clinical outcome
assessments. This database of patient records is commonly referred to as a
patient registry.
Patient registries are commonly used in clinical trials. Large amounts of patient
data can be aggregated in a database, which allows for analyses that demon-
strate relationships between numerous data points. Age, risk factors, medical
device used, procedural, and any other characteristics of patient care can be
analyzed and correlated to make observations on actual outcomes and predic-
tors of outcomes. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services rely on
patient registries to deliver decisions on reimbursement. Private insurance car-
riers are also utilizing registries to make payment decisions, while the private
sector outside the insurance industry employs registries to gauge performance
of medical devices.
Patterns and trending analyses can easily be determined with the use of reg-
istries. There are also practice management implications that can be realized by
tracking patient care at the practice level. Practice managers can view technol-
ogist performance, ordering physician's volumes, reading physician's volumes
and outcomes, patient population counts, and review types of procedures done.
Structured reporting allows the practice manager to implement a steady stream
by: Jeff LeBlanc, COO, and Matt Turland, Lead Programmer, Surgisys
Jeff LeBlanc
Matt Turland