The Basics

Electronic health records (EHRs) can improve health care quality and patient outcomes for patients with asthma. EHRs can help your organization:

  • Generate lists of patients with asthma to schedule office visits dedicated to respiratory care or proactively reach out to patients to discuss medication adherence
  • Prompt clinicians with care reminders when patients with asthma need preventive care, screenings, or immunizations1
  • Encourage clinician compliance with asthma care plans and guidelines2
  • Manage asthma medications using active medication lists and e-Prescribing
  • Better share asthma education resources with patients, enabling your patients to take ownership of their health and health care

In a national survey, 74% of providers reported that using an EHR system enhanced patient care.3 Meaningfully using EHRs in your organization can improve health care quality and patient outcomes in ways that matter for your patients with asthma.

Achieving Meaningful Use

One of the best ways to ensure you take full advantage of the benefits of electronic health records to improve asthma care in your organization is to achieve meaningful use. Achieving the following meaningful use objectives will help you improve health care quality and patient outcomes for patients with asthma.

  • Clinical Decision Support Rule
  • Patient Lists
  • Active Medication List
  • e-Prescribing
  • Patient-Specific Education Resources

References

  1. Wu WY, Hripcsak G, Lurio J, Pichardo M, Berg R, Buck MD, Morrison FP, Kitson K, Calman N, Mostashari F. “Impact of integrating public health clinical decision support alerts into electronic health records on testing for gastrointestinal illness.” J Public Health Manag Pract. 2012.
  2. Bell LM, Grundmeier R, Localio R, Zorc J, Fiks AG, Zhang X, Stephens TB, Swietlik M, Guevara JP. “Electronic health record-based decision support to improve asthma care: a cluster-randomized trial.” Pediatrics. 2010.
  3. Jamoom E, Beatty P, Bercovitz A, Woodwell D, Palso K, Rechtsteiner E. “Physician Adoption of Electronic Health Record Systems: United States, 2011.” 2012.