HIT –KP HealthConnect from Kaiser Permanente Utilized to Identify and Cut Stroke/Heart Attacks

A Kaiser Permanente study proves the use of electronic health records and predictive modeling technology can improve patient health and reduce medical crises. The pharma records were not adequate as many patients were taking aspirin, not a prescription drug, but an important part of the program to analyze the combination with the prescription drugs. At the link below from 2007 is the original announcement of the study.

The one most important outcome of the study is the validation that electronic medical records with the information and knowledge brought forward, do improve patient care. BD

Study Of Electronic Records For Heart Disease – Kaiser

The study appeared online in The American Journal of Managed Care.

“Kaiser Permanente developed the ALL initiative (Aspirin, Lisinopril and Lipid-Lowering Medication) in 2003 to reduce heart attacks and strokes by aggressively enrolling patients with heart disease or patients over 55 with diabetes in a therapeutic program that included the use of a triad of medications: low-dose aspirin, lovastatin and lisinopril.

The study followed 170,024 ethnically diverse Kaiser Permanente members in California with heart disease and/or diabetes for two years during the medication phase and for one year during the outcome monitoring phase. The study cohort was broken into three groups: 21,292 members in the high-exposure group who took the bundled drugs more than half of the time in 2004 and 2005 based on their prescription refill habits; a low-exposure group of 47,268 people who took the drug bundle less than half of the time during 2004 and 2005 based on their prescription refill habits, and a no-exposure group of 101,464 people who either took neither or just one type of the two tracked drugs during 2004 and 2005.”

The study found that a program providing 68,560 patients with diabetes or heart disease with a bundling of two generic, low-cost drugs (a cholesterol-lowering statin and a blood pressure-lowering drug) prevented 1,271 heart attacks and strokes.

· Kaiser Permanente’s electronic health record, KP HealthConnect®, was used to identify those at risk for heart attacks and stroke and raise awareness about the program among health care providers so that they could then recommend the treatment for those patients at every point of care. Electronic health data was also used to track adherence to the program.

· The study findings validate forecasts of the Archimedes Model, which used predictive modeling to forecast that “bundled” cardioprotective medications would reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke in a high-risk population by 71 percent.

· The study findings validate the use of electronic health records to track and implement evidence based knowledge to improve the quality of care.

· Heart disease is the number one killer in the United States, and 23 million Americans have diabetes and this is the first study to evaluate how a combined drug program affects clinical outcomes and hospitalization rates for heart attack and stroke.

http://xnet.kp.org/newscenter/pressreleases/nat/2009/100109drugbundlestudy.html