Using e-health to improve cholesterol management in primary care practice
Charles B Eaton1, Donna R Parker, Jason Craft
1Center for Primary Care and Prevention, Memorial Hospital of RI, 111 Brewster Street, Pawtucket, RI 02860, USA. charles_eaton@mhri.org
The Journal of Medical Practice Management : MPM
|March 18, 2009
Summary
New e-health tools, HeartAge and a PDA-based program, aim to improve hyperlipidemia management in primary care. These tools focus on patient activation and clinical decision support for better cholesterol control.
Area of Science:
- Health Informatics
- Behavioral Science
- Primary Care Medicine
Background:
- E-health tools show limited success in primary care for patient empowerment and provider decision support.
- A behaviorally oriented risk communication strategy for patient activation and decision support in hyperlipidemia management is underexplored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and describe two complementary e-health software programs for hyperlipidemia management.
- To assess the efficacy of these programs in primary care settings.
Main Methods:
- Development of HeartAge, an interactive risk communication program for patient activation.
- Development of a PDA-based clinical decision support tool for lipid management using National Cholesterol Education Program guidelines.
- Evaluation of program efficacy across five primary care practices.
Main Results:
- The study describes the development and implementation of the two software programs.
- Efficacy data on improving cholesterol management in primary care practices is presented.
Conclusions:
- Complementary e-health tools can potentially enhance patient activation and clinical decision support for hyperlipidemia.
- The described software offers a novel approach to improving cholesterol management in primary care settings.
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