Disease Management with Practice Partner

THE PRACTICE

John Deere Medical Group of Waterloo is an independent 7 physician and 2 PA medical group serving Waterloo, Iowa.

THE PROJECT

One of the primary objectives that the John Deere Medical Group hoped to achieve with Practice Partner Patient Records was a more effective disease management program. Soon after the clinic implemented their EHR they launched a disease management program to regulate diabetic patients with Hemoglobin A 1 C (HgA 1 C) over 9.

The group's primary insurance carrier (John Deere Health Care) was also interested in the out­come of this project.

THE RESULTS

Currently, 70% of the group's diabetic patients have HgA1c below 7. Six months after initiating the diabetes program, more than 90% of the group's diabetic patients had HgA 1 C below 9. Other results include:

• 62% of the groups diabetic population had an LDL < 100

• 60% of the groups diabetic population had an Systolic blood pressure < 130

• 91 % of the groups diabetic population had a Microalbumin test with in the past year

CONCLUSION

Practice Partner gave the group the tools necessary for disease management. For example:

• The group used Practice Partner's heath maintenance features to automatically flag which diabetic patients were overdue for important test. 

• The clinic also created a diabetic flow chart in the EHR to ensure that a global perspective was maintained at each patient visit

• Based on the reports pulled from the Practice Partner database, the group was able to make changes at the point of care ensuring that their diabetic patients were getting the appropriate treatment.

The clinics primary insurance carrier was so impressed by the progress that the physicians received an additional bonus that equated to about 6% of total compensation for the providers.