Health care providers' use of diabetes registries to meet meaningful use objectives helped to improve care quality and outcomes among patients with Type 2 diabetes, according to a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association, EHR Intelligence reports (Gruessner, EHR Intelligence, 7/2).

Under the 2009 economic stimulus package, providers who demonstrate meaningful use of certified electronic health records can qualify for Medicaid and Medicare incentive payments.

Stage 2 of the meaningful use program added an optional public health-related menu objective for eligible professionals to electronically submit data to a specialized registry, including chronic disease registries (CDC website, 5/23/14).

Study Details

For the study, the researchers:

• Conducted an assessment poll of primary care practices to see how they use diabetes registries;
• Examined insurance claims data from 2010;
• Compared health outcomes for patients treated at facilities with diabetes registries that met meaningful use objectives with those treated at other health care settings; and
• Analyzed the data using logistic hierarchical linear modeling (EHR Intelligence, 7/2).

Overall, the study consisted of more than 50 primary care practices treating more than 12,500 patients with diabetes, including 10,809 with Type 2 diabetes (Han et al., JAMIA, 7/1).

Study Findings

The study found that Type 2 diabetes patients who received regular reminders through diabetes registries were:

• Less likely to visit an emergency department;
• Had fewer avoidable hospitalizations (EHR Intelligence, 7/2); and
• More likely to have completed recommended laboratory tests (JAMIA, 7/1).

However, the study found the registries had no significant effect on patients with Type 1 diabetes.

The authors concluded that providers who demonstrate meaningful use in part by using diabetes registries had lower hospitalization rates and higher completion rates for recommended lab tests among patients with Type 2 diabetes (EHR Intelligence, 7/2).