EHR and Care Management

Electronic health records (EHRs) not only reduce dangerous medical errors and help control health care costs, but they also provide the means by which quality measure data can be reported, tracked, and publicized. A leading reason that physician practices purchase EHRs is to improve patient care, although a recent study by the New England Journal of Medicine shows that only 13 percent of providers are using an EHR, and of those, only 4 percent are using the EHR for care management tasks. Research suggests that the low usage of EHR care management is due to lack of time and resources to implement the features. To assist these practices, CCME facilitates a Medicare-sponsored Prevention Program we call the EHR Preventive Care Program. This program offers participating physician practices professional consulting staff to implement the EHR-based care management features that will improve patient care, help with workflow and process redesign, and assist with electronic data reporting.

CCME is committed to promoting the use of EHRs to improve the quality of care patients receive. The purpose of the program is to improve patient care by fully utilizing care management functionality within the EHR. This program focuses on improving care on preventive measures, including breast and colon cancer screening and flu and pneumonia immunizations, through the use of an EHR system to increase the delivery of evidence-based preventive services to all patients. CCME will also help participating practices use data from their EHRs to track improvement and report data directly to CMS.

Please visit the Prevention Resources section for more information on preventive services.