Electronic health record use in an outpatient setting within an integrated delivery system was linked with a decreased number of emergency department visits and hospitalizations among diabetes patients, according to a study in The Journal of the American Medical Association.
Researchers used a staggered implementation of EHR systems in outpatient clinics at Kaiser Permanente Northern California in Fremont to study the effects of the EHR system on clinical events among 169,711 diabetes patients.
Results showed EHR use to be associated with 28.8 fewer ED visits per 1,000 diabetes patients annually. The EHR was also associated with 13.1 fewer hospitalizations per 1,000 diabetes patients. There was no significant association between EHR use and office visits.
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