Grant Awarded for Medical Test Results Follow Up Technology

Martin Chieng Were (Indiana University School of Medicine)

Martin Chieng Were, assistant professor at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis, has received a grant to support his research on health information technology to improve post-hospital management of patients. The $420,000 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will fund Were’s work focusing on medical test results that are still pending when a patient is discharged from the hospital.

Poor communication and management of such patients can lead to serious medical errors in post-hospitalization medical treatment. In a study published in the September 2009 issue of the Journal of General Internal Medicine, Were (pictured left) and colleagues reported that at two large academic medical centers, hospital discharge summaries of 696 patients generally did not document the tests patients received with either the pending results or in many cases, information on the physicians that should receive the post-discharge test results.

Just about all of 696 patients had a total of nearly 3,000 pending test results, but only 16 percent of the tests with pending results were mentioned in the discharge summaries. And one-third of the discharge summaries did not indicate which primary care outpatient doctor was responsible for following up with the patient after discharge.

With the new award, Were plans to use health information technology to better close the loop on communicating test results when a patient is discharged from a hospital’s care. Were’s work will examine ways of improving identification and communication of tests ordered in the hospital that have pending results at the time of discharge. He will also work on systems to better identify the follow-up health care providers for patients being discharged from the hospital, and to deliver test results available after discharge.

Read more: Health Care Systems to Share Practices on Quality, Costs

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