James E. Bailey

Health information exchange usage in emergency departments and clinics: the who, what, and why

OBJECTIVE Health information exchange (HIE) systems are being developed across the nation. Understanding approaches taken by existing successful exchanges can help new exchange efforts determine goals and plan implementations. The goal of this study was to explore characteristics of use and users of a successful regional HIE. DESIGN We used a mixed-method analysis, consisting of cross-sectional audit log data, semi-structured interviews, and direct observation in a sample of emergency departments and ambulatory safety net clinics actively using HIE. For each site, we measured overall usage trends, user logon statistics, and data types accessed by users. We also assessed reasons for use and outcomes of use. RESULTS Overall, users accessed HIE for 6.8% of all encounters, with higher rates of access for repeat visits, for patients with comorbidities, for patients known to have data in the exchange, and at sites providing HIE access to both nurses and physicians. Discharge summaries and test reports were the most frequently accessed data in the exchange. Providers consistently noted retrieving additional history, preventing repeat tests, comparing new results to retrieved results, and avoiding hospitalizations as a consequence of HIE access. CONCLUSION HIE use in emergency departments and ambulatory clinics was focused on patients where missing information was believed to be present in the exchange and was related to factors including the roles of people with access, the setting, and other site-specific issues that impacted the overall breadth of routine system use. These data should form an important foundation as other sites embark upon HIE implementation.

Health Information Exchange Reduces Repeated Diagnostic Imaging for Back Pain

STUDY OBJECTIVE This study seeks to determine whether health information exchange reduces repeated diagnostic imaging and related costs in emergency back pain evaluation. METHODS This was a longitudinal data analysis of health information exchange patient-visit data. All repeated emergency department (ED) patient visits for back pain with previous ED diagnostic imaging to a Memphis metropolitan area ED between August 1, 2007, and July 31, 2009, were included. Use of a regional health information exchange by ED personnel to access the patients record during the emergency visit was the primary independent variable. Main outcomes included repeated lumbar or thoracic diagnostic imaging (radiograph, computed tomography [CT], or magnetic resonance imaging [MRI]) and total patient-visit estimated cost. RESULTS One hundred seventy-nine (22.4%) of the 800 qualifying repeated back pain visits resulted in repeated diagnostic imaging (radiograph 84.9%, CT 6.1%, and MRI 9.5%). Health information exchange use in the study population was low, at 12.5%, and health care providers as opposed to administrative/nursing staff accounted for 80% of the total health information exchange use. Health information exchange use by any ED personnel was associated with reduced repeated diagnostic imaging (odds ratio 0.36; 95% confidence interval 0.18 to 0.71), as was physician or nurse practitioner health information exchange use (odds ratio 0.47; 95% confidence interval 0.23 to 0.96). No cost savings were associated with health information exchange use because of increased CT imaging when health care providers used health information exchange. CONCLUSION Health information exchange use is associated with 64% lower odds of repeated diagnostic imaging in the emergency evaluation of back pain. Health information exchange effect on estimated costs was negligible. More studies are needed to evaluate specific strategies to increase health information exchange use and further decrease potentially unnecessary diagnostic imaging and associated costs of care.

Performance of Comorbidity Measures to Predict Stroke and Death in a Community-Dwelling, Hypertensive Medicaid Population

Background and Purpose— The Charlson and Elixhauser comorbidities are widely used to control for differences in comorbidity in epidemiological studies but have not been validated for outpatient studies of hypertension. This study sought that validation using death and stroke outcomes. Methods— Using Cox models in a retrospective cohort study of 49 479 hypertensive patients, Modified Charlson Index was compared with 6 alternative approaches to assessing comorbidity: individual Charlson comorbidities, Elixhauser comorbidities, prior major cardiovascular disease event, traditional risk factors for cerebrovascular accident, healthcare utilization, and antihypertensive medication utilization. Comorbidity measures were calculated at baseline and for a period before occurrence of the study outcome of interest or study conclusion. Results— The Charlson comorbidities had the smallest Akaike information criterion value for both the stroke and death outcomes when baseline data were used. The Elixhauser comorbidities had the smallest Akaike information criterion value for both the stroke and death outcomes when follow-up data were used. Modified Charlson Index also predicted stroke and death, but alternative models were more robust. Conclusion— This study indicates that both the Charlson and Elixhauser comorbidities are valid prediction tools that could enable clinicians and health systems to better assess risk for stroke and death in patients with hypertension. However, the Charlson comorbidities perform better when comorbidities are assessed using baseline data, whereas the Elixhauser comorbidities perform better for short follow-up periods when comorbidities are assessed proximal to events of interest.

Emergency Physicians' Perspectives on Their Use of Health Information Exchange

STUDY OBJECTIVE We explore what emergency physicians with access to health information exchange have to say about it and strive to better understand the factors affecting their use of it. METHODS A qualitative study using grounded theory principles was conducted in 4 urban emergency departments that had health information exchange access for 4 years. Data were collected with unstructured interviews from 15 emergency physicians. RESULTS Emergency physicians reported that a number of factors affected their use of health information exchange, but the most prevalent was that it was not user friendly and disrupted workflow. Five major themes emerged: variations in using health information exchange and its access, influencing clinical decisions, balancing challenges and barriers, recognizing benefits and success factors, and justifying not using health information exchange. The themes supported a theoretical interpretation that the process of using health information exchange is more complex than balancing challenges or barriers against benefits, but also how they justify not using it when making clinical decisions. We found that health information exchange systems need to be transformed to meet the needs of emergency physicians and incorporated into their workflow if it is going to be successful. The emergency physicians also identified needed improvements that would increase the frequency of health information exchange use. CONCLUSION The emergency physicians reported that health information exchange disrupted their workflow and was less than desirable to use. The health information exchange systems need to adapt to the needs of the end user to be both useful and useable for emergency physicians.

The prognostic significance of asymptomatic carotid bruits in the elderly

OBJECTIVE: To determine the association between asymptomatic carotid bruits and the development of subsequent stroke in older adults with isolated systolic hypertension.DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study.SETTING: The Systolic Hypertension in the Elderly Program (SHEP), a 5-year randomized trial testing the efficacy of treating systolic hypertension in noninstitutionalized persons aged 60 years or older. From the original 4,736 SHEP participants, we identified a cohort of 4,442 persons who had no prior history of stroke, transient ischemic attack, or myocardial infarction at randomization.MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: The end point for this ancillary study was the development of a stroke. The average follow-up was 4.2 years. Carotid bruits were found in 284 (6.4%) of the participants at baseline. Strokes developed in 21 (7.4%) of those with carotid bruits and in 210 (5.0%) of those without carotid bruits. The unadjusted risk of stroke among persons with carotid bruits was 1.53 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.98, 2.40). Adjusting for age, gender, race, blood pressure, smoking, lipid levels, self-reported aspirin use, and treatment group assignment, the relative risk of stroke among persons with asymptomatic carotid bruits was 1.29 (95% CI 0.80, 2.06). Among SHEP enrollees aged 60 to 69 years, there was a trend (p=.08) toward increased risk (relative risk [RR] 2.05; 95% CI 0.92, 4.68) of subsequent stroke in persons with, compared to those without, carotid bruits. However, among enrollees aged 70 years or over, there was no relation between carotid bruit and subsequent stroke (RR 0.98; 95% CI 0.55, 1.76). In no other subgroup of SHEP enrollees did the presence of carotid bruit independently predict stroke.CONCLUSIONS: Although we cannot rule out a small increased risk of stroke associated with bruits in asymptomatic SHEP enrollees aged 60 to 69 years, the utility of carotid bruits as a marker for increased risk of stroke among asymptomatic elderly with isolated systolic hypertension aged 70 years or older is limited.

Characteristics of Hospital and Emergency Care Super-utilizers with Multiple Chronic Conditions

BACKGROUND Targeted care transitions programs may improve the value of hospital-based health care. Super-utilizing patients with multiple chronic conditions (MCC) are thought to be particularly amenable to care transitions interventions. OBJECTIVES To identify characteristics, future utilization patterns, and health outcomes for super-utilizers with MCC. METHODS Retrospective cohort study of patients receiving care in an urban multi-hospital system in Tennessee over 3 years. Adult patients with Medicaid or Medicare insurance, or both, MCC, and multiple hospitalizations and emergency department (ED) visits in a 6-month period were included. The primary outcome measures were numbers of hospitalizations and ED visits in the 12 months after the 6-month period of high utilization. Secondary outcomes included 30-day readmissions and discharge disposition. RESULTS Of 1537 super-utilizing patients, 59.0% (n = 907) had at least two targeted chronic conditions. This final study cohort (n = 638) experienced a mean of 3.2 hospitalizations and 2.8 ED visits without hospitalization in the 12-month follow-up period. During follow-up, 26% experienced one or more 30-day readmission(s) within the health care system. Despite their medical complexity, 46% reported not having a regular primary care provider, and 48% had presenting pain scores ≥8/10. Only 1% of the visits to the ED were triaged as nonurgent. CONCLUSIONS Medicare and Medicaid patients with high baseline utilization and MCC experience continued high health care utilization. Patient characteristics, future utilization patterns, and health outcomes suggest the subgroup identified is an important subgroup of super-utilizers that merits attention because they may be particularly amenable to intervention.

Risk Factors Associated With Antihypertensive Medication Nonadherence in a Statewide Medicaid Population

Background:This study seeks to determine the most important patient factors and health care exposures available through administrative databases associated with antihypertensive nonadherence. Methods:This is a cross-sectional analysis of Medicaid hypertensive patients of Tennessee enrolled for 3 to 7 years from 1994 to 2000. Demographic characteristics, comorbidity and health care utilization were assessed during a 2-year period. The primary outcome was antihypertensive medication refill nonadherence. Subjects were categorized as adherent or nonadherent using an 80% cutoff criteria. Associations with nonadherence were assessed using logistic regression modeling. Results:Of 49,479 subjects, 60.6% (n = 29,970) were classified as nonadherent and 39.4% (n = 19,509) as adherent. Significant predictors of nonadherence in multivariate analysis (P < 0.05) included male sex (odds ratio [OR] 1.12), black race (OR 1.67), urban residence (OR 1.12), obesity (OR 1.10), mental illness (OR 1.08) and substance abuse (OR 1.43). Significant protective factors included age (OR 0.97), disability (OR 0.62), diabetes (OR 0.76), hypercholesterolemia (OR 0.72) and Charlson index (OR 0.97). When health care utilization was considered, increased outpatient visits were associated with decreased nonadherence. Emergency department visits (OR 1.07) and hospital visits (OR 1.12) were associated with increased nonadherence. Conclusions:This cross-sectional study suggests that substance abuse, black race, emergency department visits and hospitalizations are risk factors associated with nonadherence. Outpatient visits are associated with a small decrease in nonadherence. Further studies are needed to determine the characteristics of outpatient visits that most improve adherence.

SafeMed: Using pharmacy technicians in a novel role as community health workers to improve transitions of care

OBJECTIVES To describe the design, implementation, and early experience of the SafeMed program, which uses certified pharmacy technicians in a novel expanded role as community health workers (CPhT-CHWs) to improve transitions of care. SETTING A large nonprofit health care system serving the major medically underserved areas and geographic hotspots for readmissions in Memphis, TN. PRACTICE INNOVATION The SafeMed program is a care transitions program with an emphasis on medication management designed to use low-cost health workers to improve transitions of care from hospital to home for superutilizing patients with multiple chronic conditions and polypharmacy. EVALUATION CPhT-CHWs were given primary responsibility for patient outreach after hospital discharge with the use of home visits and telephone follow-up. SafeMed program CPhT-CHWs served as pharmacist extenders, obtaining medication histories, assisting in medication reconciliation and identification of potential drug therapy problems (DTPs), and reinforcing medication education previously provided by the pharmacist per protocol. RESULTS CPhT-CHW training included patient communication skills, motivational interviewing, medication history taking, teach-back techniques, drug disposal practices, and basic disease management. Some CPhT-CHWs experienced difficulties adjusting to an expanded scope of practice. Nonetheless, once the Tennessee Board of Pharmacy affirmed that envisioned SafeMed CPhT-CHW roles were consistent with Board rules, additional responsibilities were added for CPhT-CHWs to enhance their effectiveness. Patient outreach teams including CPhT-CHWs achieved increases in home visit and telephone follow-up rates and were successful in helping identify potential DTPs. CONCLUSION The early experience of the SafeMed program demonstrates that CPhT-CHWs are well suited for novel expanded roles to improve care transitions for superutilizing populations. CPhT-CHWs can identify and report potential DTPs to the pharmacist to help target medication therapy management. Critical success factors include strong CPhT-CHW patient-centered communication skills and strong pharmacist champions. In collaboration with state pharmacy boards and pharmacist associations, the SafeMed CPhT-CHW model can be successfully scaled to serve superutilizing patients throughout the country.

Use of and interest in mobile health for diabetes self-care in vulnerable populations.

Objective We aimed to assess use of and interest in mobile health (mHealth) technology and in-person services for diabetes self-care in vulnerable populations. Methods We delivered a self-administered cross-sectional survey. Participants were recruited at two primary care practices (P1 and P2) with P1 located in a medically underserved area and P2 in an affluent suburb. Two-sample t-tests and chi-square tests were used with p < 0.05 significant. In addition, a secondary analysis was performed to analyse differences in use and interest in mHealth by age. Results Of 75 eligible patients, 60 completed the survey (80% response rate). P1 patients had significantly higher interest in three of five categories of in-person diabetes support services, one of four categories of health-related text messages (TM), and three of eight categories of mHealth applications (p < 0.05). Smartphone users reported higher interest in TM (p = 0.004) and mHealth applications for diabetes self-care (p = 0.004). Younger patients were more likely to have a smartphone (p < 0.006), use the Internet (p < 0.0012), use smartphone applications (p < 0.0004), and to be interested in using applications to manage their diabetes (p < 0.004). Discussion This study shows substantial patient interest in TM and mHealth applications for diabetes self-care and suggests that patients in underserved areas may have particularly high interest in using mHealth solutions in primary care. Younger patients and smartphone users were more likely to be interested in using applications to manage their diabetes. As more patients use smartphones, interest in using mHealth to support patient self-care and strengthen primary care infrastructure will continue to grow.

Does Health Information Technology Dehumanize Health Care

Health information technology, like prior technological advances in medicine, can improve patient care and enhance the patient-physician relationship if used properly and thoughtfully. Virtual Mentor is a monthly bioethics journal published by the American Medical Association.