I have good news. Two months in a row, the U.S. Wound Registry (USWR) and Intellicure, Inc. had ground breaking papers published in Wound Repair and Regeneration, our field’s top journal. The U.S. government had a “big idea” when it passed laws requiring hospitals and doctors to adopt EHRs. 
The big idea was to ultimately create something called a “Learning Healthcare System” in which the experience of every patient could help us better understand their diseases and the effectiveness of treatments. Data would go in to the EHR in a standardized way, come out for analysis, and then go back into the EHR in the form of “clinical decision support” to guide future care. Despite billions invested in EHRs, very few Learning Healthcare Systems have been described. Last month, we described how we created a Learning Healthcare System in wound care using the Intellicure EHR and the US Wound Registry:
“A New Approach to Clinical Research: Integrating Clinical Care, Quality Reporting, and Research Using a Wound Care Network-Based Learning Healthcare System”
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/wrr.12538/full
Earlier this month, June 14, we published another paper that sets the standards for using registry data to perform clinical research:
“Harnessing electronic healthcare data for wound care research: Standards for reporting observational registry data obtained directly from electronic health records”
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/wrr.12523/abstract
It summarizes a decade of work getting the USWR ready so that our data can be used by federal agencies. More than a decade ago, our little company set a goal of making research wound care more practical, less expensive, and more relevant to real patients- and as a result, making treatment (and healthcare) less expensive.
These little stones in the pond appear to create only small ripples on the water, but I assure you that they will create huge tidal waves in years to come.
Quality Matters. Do the Right Thing.
Caroline Fife, MD Twitter | Facebook | LinkedIn
Dr. Fife is a world renowned wound care physician dedicated to improving patient outcomes through quality driven care. Please visit my blog at CarolineFifeMD.com and my Youtube channel at https://www.youtube.com/c/carolinefifemd/videos
The opinions, comments, and content expressed or implied in my statements are solely my own and do not necessarily reflect the position or views of Intellicure or any of the boards on which I serve.
