Nov. 15, 2011
By leading the way in managing data, TriHealth is leading the way in managing diabetes.
"TriHealth has proven itself to be one of the most proficient health systems in the country in making meaningful medical data available to physicians and patients for better treatment of diabetes," says Georges Feghali MD, FACP, CPE, TriHealth senior vice president of Quality and chief medical officer.
The technological revolution begins with electronic medical records and then uses that stored information to propel proactive health care. The secure, confidential clinical data warehouse TriHealth has been developing for nearly three years focuses on bringing physicians valuable information about the status of their patients' health. The term "clinical data warehouse" refers to a data repository that allows for customized data extraction.
"As an example, for patients with diabetes in the TriHealth physician practices, the relevant clinical data is automatically extracted from the patient's electronic medical record and organized in the warehouse according to protocols for diabetes. These protocols include the best practices in the country and give us parameters for what is considered 'controlled' diabetes and what is 'uncontrolled.' With this knowledge, doctors can work with patients whose disease is not well-controlled and help them become active participants in their own health," says Vesta Johns, chief operating officer of TriHealth Physician Practices. TriHealth’s data warehouse blends national best practice measures with TriHealth physician practice data.
According to a recent population management report, TriHealth’s diabetes management is 15 percent better than the Greater Cincinnati community average. "I believe it’s because we have data in real-time, which lets our physicians take action immediately to treat patients who need intervention," says John Ward, TriHealth director of Health System IT Integration, who has overseen the data warehouse development. Physicians can request patients to come in for an appointment, change medication dosages, and notify an entire patient population promptly when a new medicine becomes available, a product is recalled or new guidelines for care are released.
And TriHealth has much more to come. In 2012, TriHealth physicians will use the data warehouse to devise evidence-based, measurable standards to help its primary care doctors manage even more chronic conditions as well as promote healthy living. First on the list are:
As Dr. Feghali concludes, "The transparency, accuracy and timeliness of our data, combined with an outstanding medical team, can only lead to superior care delivery for our patients. We want to be the best, and we have the tools to do it."