Tracking outpatient continuity and chronic disease indicators-a novel use of the new innovations clinic module

The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education common program requirements for Practice-based Learning and Improvement in Internal Medicine specify that trainees must "systematically analyze [his/her] practice using quality improvement methods, and implement changes with the goal of practice improvement" and that the training program "must include use of performance data" in the assessment of the resident's practice. Before implementation of an electronic health record at our academic medical center, we found meeting these requirements to be challenging. This prompted us to set up the New Innovations (New Innovations, Inc, Uniontown, OH) Software Suite's Patient Continuity module to permit analysis and tracking of both quality of care indicators and patient continuity. By using the system, our residents were better able to monitor their patient panel sizes and composition and to correlate their practices with quality of care data. Residency programs, which currently utilize New Innovations software but lack an electronic health record, may find the continuity clinic module useful for engaging their house staff in structured practice improvement initiatives and in satisfying the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education's common program requirements for practice-based learning.