Clinicians Perform “Chart Biopsies” to Prepare for Patient Handoffs

An AHRQ-funded study examines the practice of “chart biopsies,” a process that allows receiving clinicians to understand patients’ clinical course prior to handoff. According to the article, “Chart Biopsy: An Emerging Medical Practice Enabled by Electronic Health Records and Its Impacts on Emergency Department-Inpatient Admission Handoffs,” the term ”chart biopsy” refers to the activity of examining portions of a patient’s electronic health record (EHR) to gather specific information about that patient or to develop a broader understanding of the patient’s care. With many hospitals moving to EHRs, practitioners are now able to view patient records prior to the physical transfer of the patient. Chart biopsies enable receiving clinicians to gain a stronger understanding of the patient’s condition, allow receiving practitioners to better prepare for handoff and subsequent care, and guard against possible bias in verbal reports. Chart biopsy is an emerging practice that is not yet available as a tool in all hospitals. However, proponents point out that chart biopsy provides a tool to enrich coordination and collaboration, which may enable safety, efficiency, and effectiveness of medical care. To access the article, which appeared in the September 2012 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, select: http://1.usa.gov/PT9qJH.

Launch of Open Access Journal on Electronic Clinical Data

The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and the Electronic Data Methods Forum are pleased to announce the official launch of eGEMs (Generating Evidence and Methods to improve patient outcomes). eGEMs  is an open access journal focused on using electronic clinical data to advance research and quality improvement, with the overall goal of improving patient and community outcomes. Authors are welcome to submit papers, images, or other media focused on data methods, informatics, governance, and the learning health system.

Select to access: http://repository.academyhealth.org/egems/

Clinical Quality Measures Useful in Estimating Quality Across Different EHRs

A recent study supported by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality examined the sensitivity and specificity of clinical quality measures generated by electronic health records. “Accuracy of Electronically Reported “Meaningful Use” Clinical Quality Measures: A Cross-Sectional Study” appeared in the Annals of Internal Medicine on January 15. The study looked at the accuracy of interoperable electronic reporting for 12 quality measures, finding that 9 of the clinical quality measures showed good consistency in estimating quality of care. This suggests that electronic quality measurement has the capability to identify areas in need of improvement and quantify the impact of changes that have been made. This research was a part of AHRQ’s ongoing efforts to study ways to improve electronically enabled quality measurement. For a short video about this project, select: http://healthit.ahrq.gov/EQMKaushalVideo.

  

The abstract is available at: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23318309.