AHRQ study: Lab monitoring can improve medication adherence
An electronic tool to support laboratory monitoring between primary care office visits improved low-density lipoprotein (LDL) testing intervals for patients, but didn’t improve hemoglobin A1c or LDL control, according to study funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ).
In a randomized controlled trial, researchers examined the clinical impact of a health IT tool designed to improve between-visit ordering and tracking of laboratory testing for more than 3,500 primary care patients who were prescribed oral medications for hyperlipidemia, diabetes and/or hypertension over a 12-month period.
The authors of the study, “Randomized Trial of a Health IT Tool to Support Between-Visit Based Laboratory Monitoring for Chronic Disease Medication Prescriptions,” noted the importance of innovations designed to improve medical management are important given the increasing incidence of chronic conditions such as a diabetes and high blood pressure. However, they said, new payment models and workflow practices that integrate nonvisit clinical work might be needed before medication management systems used outside of office visits can be more widely adopted.
Editor
Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.