Using Health Information Technology (IT) for Primary Care Quality Improvement (QI)

Resource: Using Health Information Technology to Support Quality Improvement in Primary Care (PDF, 795 KB, 25 pages)

Using electronic health records and other types of health information technology improves primary care practices’ ability to deliver evidence-based care and improve patient outcomes. This AHRQ resource identifies specific health information technology (IT)—such as electronic health records, data registries, decision support and health information exchange systems—to improve quality and patient outcomes. By describing factors that promote primary care practices’ use of health IT to support quality improvement (QI), this AHRQ resource supports Key Driver 3: Optimize health information systems to extract data and support use of evidence in practice. This resource summarizes cross-cutting lessons from case studies and makes recommendations for primary care practices, health IT developers, and decisionmakers to alleviate barriers faced by practices seeking to use health IT to support QI.

Institution of origin: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality

Author(s): Higgins TC, Crosson J, Peikes D, McNellis R, Genevro J, Meyers D

Publication date: March 2015