Electronic Tracking and Care Coordination Tools Save Lives

By Saher Selod

Researchers at the Oregon Health & Science University conducted an evaluation of the Care Management Plus (CMP) program. The results of the study indicate that the CMP program, an intervention tool that combines electronic tracking with patient centered-care management, reduced the number of deaths and hospitalizations for older adults suffering from several chronic illnesses.

The study was conducted in Seven Intermountain clinics where 1,144 patients received the CMP and 2,288 patients, in the control group, did not. According to the results, 6.5% of the CMP patients died in the first year compared to 9.2% from the control group. In the second year, 13.1% of CMP patients died in the second year compared to 16.6% in the control group. The difference in hospitalization rates was not as high as the death rates, except for those patients who suffered from diabetes.

The researchers argued that this computerized care management system worked in conjunction with extra training for nurses to improve the health care outcomes for older adults.

CMP uses data regarding the patients' condition that is logged into a care management tracking database. This tool is then used by the care plan teams of chronically ill older adults to access patient information quickly and address patient medical needs efficiently.

This new system would require the restructuring of primary care for those who are chronically ill. Researchers from the study recommend this restructuring in order to improve the quality of care for chronically ill patients in the long term.

Source: Door, David, Wilcox, A., Brunker, C., Burdon, R. Donnelly, S. 2008. The effect of technology-supported multi-disease care management on the mortality of hospitalization of seniors. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 56(12): 2203-2210.

Comments? Tell us what you think: askaia@matherlifeways.com