Computer-generated physician and patient reminders. Tools to improve population adherence to selected preventive services

• HIT Description: Computerized decision support with preventive reminders. More info...
  
• Purpose of Study: Assess the impact of computer-generated reminders to patients, their physicians, or both on adherence preventive services.
  
• Years of study: 1988-1989
  
• Study Design: RCT
  
• Outcomes: Impact on health care effectivness/quality
  

• Settings: Adult patients (7397) and their physicians (49) in a university family medicine clinical practice in South Carolina participated in the study.
• Intervention: The four study groups were: control, physician reminders, patient reminders, and both physician and patient reminders. The preventive services reminders were on cholesterol measurements, fecal occult blood testing, mammography, Papanicolaou smears, and tetanus immunization.
• Evaluation Method: Measures of preventive services adherence.
• Quality of Care and Patient Safety Outcome: Adherence to four of the five preventive services increased significantly, with the largest increases in the physician and patient reminder group: cholesterol measurements increased from 19.5% to 38.1%, fecal occult blood testing 9.3% to 27.0%, mammography 11.4% to 27.1%, and tetanus immunization 23.4% to 35.4% (for each increase, P less than .0001, McNemar's chi-square test). In general, increases were greater in blacks and in patients with any form of insurance coverage.