Using data in disease management. Opportunities and challenges

Data collection is much talked about and little practiced. HealthPartners has a fully-developed data collection model that has successfully improved the quality and cost of health services, especially in women's health. This discussion of their system points out the complexities of data collections, the need for managed care plan and clinic cooperation and the clear benefits of the approach. Special attention is paid to developing data-based clinical practice guidelines, reminder systems, identification of at-risk patients and development of patient-centered information about physicians.