Type 2 diabetes patients who are treated in practices that use electronic registries for patient reminders are more likely to complete recommended laboratory testing, according to research published in the Journal of the Medical Informatics Association.
In addition to analyzing records from 12,514 patients with diabetes from 50 urban practices, researchers conducted a practice assessment survey to determine how primary care providers were using electronic diabetes registries to meet meaningful use-related objectives. They then used insurance claims data from 2010 to compare the health outcomes of patients from practices using those registries to the health outcomes of patients of providers who did not.
While use of diabetes registries that meet meaningful use objectives was associated with higher completion rate of recommended tests and lower hospital utilization rates for type 2 diabetes, the use of those registries had no significant impact on the quality of care for patients with type 1 diabetes, according to the study.
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