This User’s Guide is intended to support the design, implementation, analysis, interpretation, and quality evaluation of registries created to increase understanding of patient outcomes. For the purposes of this guide, a patient registry is an organized system that uses observational study methods to collect uniform data (clinical and other) to evaluate specified outcomes for a population defined by a particular disease, condition, or exposure, and that serves one or more predetermined scientific, clinical, or policy purposes. A registry database is a file (or files) derived from the registry. Although registries can serve many purposes, this guide focuses on registries created for one or more of the following purposes: to describe the natural history of disease, to determine clinical effectiveness or cost-effectiveness of health care products and services, to measure or monitor safety and harm, and/or to measure quality of care. Registries are classified according to how their populations are defined. For example, product registries include patients who have been exposed to biopharmaceutical products or medical devices. Health services registries consist of patients who have had a common procedure, clinical encounter, or hospitalization. Disease or condition registries are defined by patients having the same diagnosis, such as cystic fibrosis or heart failure. The User’s Guide was created by researchers affiliated with AHRQ’s Effective Health Care Program, particularly those who participated in AHRQ’s DEcIDE (Developing Evidence to Inform Decisions About Effectiveness) program. Chapters were subject to multiple internal and external independent reviews.

- Practical in its scope and coverage, the authors have provided a tool-kit for the medical professional in the often complex field of medical informatics - All editors are from the Geisinger Health System, which has one of the largest Electron Health systmes in the USA, and is high in the list of the AMIA "100 Most Wire" healthcare systems - Describes the latest successes and pitfalls

Commissioned by the Department of Health and Human Services, Key Capabilities of an Electronic Health Record System provides guidance on the most significant care delivery-related capabilities of electronic health record (EHR) systems. There is a great deal of interest in both the public and private sectors in encouraging all health care providers to migrate from paper-based health records to a system that stores health information electronically and employs computer-aided decision support systems. In part, this interest is due to a growing recognition that a stronger information technology infrastructure is integral to addressing national concerns such as the need to improve the safety and the quality of health care, rising health care costs, and matters of homeland security related to the health sector. Key Capabilities of an Electronic Health Record System provides a set of basic functionalities that an EHR system must employ to promote patient safety, including detailed patient data (e.g., diagnoses, allergies, laboratory results), as well as decision-support capabilities (e.g., the ability to alert providers to potential drug-drug interactions). The book examines care delivery functions, such as database management and the use of health care data standards to better advance the safety, quality, and efficiency of health care in the United States.

Clinicians and managers are increasingly required to participate in or manage new initiatives which depend heavily on co-operation collaboration and a multidisciplinary approach where effective interpersonal and group skills are of vital importance. This practical guide encourages the reader to determine how their organisations work and the impact they have on their members. It draws on the experiences of primary care research and development projects and contains numerous case studies tips and techniques to manage change. It is an essential guide for healthcare professionals in primary care and will equip those working in practice and facilitators working with practices with a clear understanding of how to achieve successful acceptance and management of change.

The straight scoop on choosing and implementing an electronic health records (EHR) system Doctors, nurses, and hospital and clinic administrators are interested in learning the best ways to implement and use an electronic health records system so that they can be shared across different health care settings via a network-connected information system. This helpful, plain-English guide provides need-to-know information on how to choose the right system, assure patients of the security of their records, and implement an EHR in such a way that it causes minimal disruption to the daily demands of a hospital or clinic. Offers a plain-English guide to the many electronic health records (EHR) systems from which to choose Authors are a duo of EHR experts who provide clear, easy-to-understand information on how to choose the right EHR system an implement it effectively Addresses the benefits of implementing an EHR system so that critical information (such as medication, allergies, medical history, lab results, radiology images, etc.) can be shared across different health care settings Discusses ways to talk to patients about the security of their electronic health records Electronic Health Records For Dummies walks you through all the necessary steps to successfully choose the right EHR system, keep it current, and use it effectively.

Physician adoption of electronic medical records (EMRs) has become a national priority. It is said that EMRs have the potential to greatly improve patient care, to provide the data needed for more effective population management and quality assurance of both an individual practice’s patients and well as patients of large health care systems, and the potential to create efficiencies that allow physicians to provide this improved care at a far lower cost than at present. There is currently a strong U.S. government push for physicians to adopt EMR technology, with the Obama administration emphasizing the use of EMRs as an important part of the future of health care and urging widespread adoption of this technology by 2014. This timely book for the primary care community offers a concise and easy to read guide for implementing an EMR system. Organized in six sections, this invaluable title details the general state of the EMR landscape, covering the government’s incentive program, promises and pitfalls of EMR technology, issues related to standardization and the range of EMR vendors from which a provider can choose. Importantly, chapter two provides a detailed and highly instructional account of the experiences that a range of primary care providers have had in implementing EMR systems. Chapter three discusses how to effectively choose an EMR system, while chapters four and five cover all of the vital pre-implementation and implementation issues in establishing an EMR system in the primary care environment. Finally, chapter six discusses how to optimize and maintain a new EMR system to achieve the full cost savings desired. Concise, direct, but above all honest in recognizing the challenges in choosing and implementing an electronic health record in primary care, Electronic Medical Records: A Practical Guide for Primary Care has been written with the busy primary care physician in mind.

Clinical Infomation Systems are increasingly important in Medical Practice. This work is a two-part book detailing the importance, selection and implementation of information systems in the health care setting. Volume One discusses the technical, organizational, clinical and administrative issues pertaining to EMR implementation. Highlighted topics include: infrastructure of the electronic patient records for administrators and clinicians, understanding processes and outcomes, and preparing for an EMR. The second workbook is filled with sample charts and questions, guiding the reader through the actual EMR implementation process.