Improving diabetes management with electronic medical records

Most primary-care physicians have adopted electronic medical records (EMRs) for the management of patients in ambulatory care. Observational trials suggest that the use of EMRs improves the achievement of the recommended standards of diabetes care and intermediate outcomes. A French group of general practitioners has shown, in a randomized controlled trial of diabetes care, the beneficial effects of a follow-up module integrated into an EMR. Electronic reminders, eHealth technology and e-mail messaging to patients integrated into the EMR have also been reported to have a beneficial effect on diabetes care. Some recommendations have been devised for the meaningful use of EMRs to improve the process and, possibly, intermediate outcomes of diabetes care as well. Another potential benefit to consider is the extraction and aggregation of data to create diabetes registers. Large regional and national diabetes registers have been set up in the US and Europe for various purposes, including patient recall, description of care patterns and outcomes, improvement of practices, drug safety, observational research and retrospective trials. In France, the government initiative towards an Internet-based personal health record (PHR) provides an appropriate framework for implementing and sharing the information needed to improve diabetes care, such as electronic summaries of health information, personalized health plans (PHPs), and standardized and structured hospital-discharge forms. All of these materials can be generated from EMRs. The widespread and optimalized use of EMRs for diabetes care with links to the national diabetes register and the capacity to supply PHRs are major considerations. Achieving these goals requires a common initiative comprising primary care and diabetes scientific societies in cooperation with diabetes patients'associations.