This point was made by a prominent CIO, Dr. Hal Baker, in his podcast last week as well. Dr. Baker pointed out that the challenges to turning on the Problem List capability within an EMR is easy; and getting a medical staff to use it is complex. These are entirely different issues.
It stands to reason that, if your goal is to demonstrate Meaningful Use in 2011, creating a shared clinical vision of an up-to-date Problem List is going to be necessary, and will require a campaign and prototype.
To help you get started, here are a few of the benefits you can achieve from evolving toward an up-to-date Problem List:
- Facilitate analysis of potential interaction between patient problems and diagnostic/therapeutic interventions
- Facilitate association of clinical information to a specific medical problem
- Facilitate management of patient chronic conditions
- Support continuity of care
- Improve clinical decision making
- Increase adoption of screening programs and preventive health measures
- Improve communication between health professionals
- Provide a central and concise view of the patient’s medical problems
- Encourage an orderly process of medical problem solving and clinical judgment
- Improve provider productivity, while creating accurate and complete medical records
Installing and turning on certified software is one thing. Achieving and demonstrating Meaningful Use is something more.
What do you think?
Photo: Dr. Thomas Garthwaite, over a decade ago, led an initiative as Under Secretary for Health at Department of Veterans Affairs, driving problem list usage from 60% prevalence to over 90%, as part of a highly successful and systematic set of initiatives to improve cost, quality and access.
