Improving primary care for patients with complex chronic diseases: can health information technology play a role?

摘要

The primary care of patients with type 2 diabetes melli-tus remains suboptimal despite the availability of potent medications and clear evidence-based guidelines.1 With its increasing prevalence, its substantial economic burden and impact on health, and an extensive list of measurable health care parameters, type 2 diabetes has understandably become a focus of many quality-improvement efforts. Moreover, the complexity and abundance of clinical data to be processed by clinicians has made diabetes a frequent paradigm for testing advances in tools based on health information technology. An evidence-based model we created suggests that a variety of interventions in diabetes care based on information technology may have a beneficial impact on health care costs and clinical outcomes.