Previous NAMCS Initiatives and Supplements

Previous Initiatives

• Lookback Module (2012-2013)The intent of the Lookback module is to improve the nation’s ability to monitor and evaluate the quality of clinical care to prevent diseases such as heart disease and stroke. Sampled visits which indicate patients with elevated risk for heart disease or stroke will have additional information collected from all prior visits to that sampled provider during the past 12 months. For example, the module records medications prescribed, changes in medications, family history, contraindications to certain medications, and various laboratory tests (i.e., total cholesterol, HDL, LDL, TGS, HbA1c, FBG, and serum creatinine). Combining data from the current visit as well as the prior visits will permit evaluation and monitoring of appropriateness of clinical management and the relationship to intermediate outcomes. Furthermore, information on the clinical management of such diseases could identify shortfalls in the quality of care and opportunities for improvement. The same lab values collected on the Lookback module are also collected on the regular Patient Record form for the current sampled visit.

Previous Supplements

• Workflow Supplement (2011-2013)Added in 2011, the Physician Workflow Supplement is a longitudinal follow-up data collection initiative, also sponsored by ONC, to provide a better understanding of physician experiences with adoption and use of EHRs. The basesample for the survey comprises respondents to the 2011 EHR supplement. Respondents are being followed annually for a three-year period, beginning in 2011 and running through 2013. The main purpose of the survey is to obtain information on costs, benefits, and barriers related to the use of EHR systems at various stages of adoption.The Workflow Supplement data will help ONC and data users understand the experiences of adopters and measure progress towards Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH) program goals. Data will also help guide policymaking surrounding meaningful use criteria of EHR that have been established to help create a private and secure 21st century electronic health information system. Together with data from the EHR supplement, responses will help to develop criteria for successive stages of meaningful use. A report detailing the 2011 Physician Workflow Supplement is available as a NCHS Data Brief: Physician Adoption of Electronic Health record Systems: United States, 2011.