VALUE OF A LONG-TERM CLINICAL DATABASE

To study the value of historical clinical information, which we define d as data more than one year old, we measured the frequency and patter ns of use of historical laboratory data among 87 providers in a multis pecialty group practice delivering ambulatory care. During a one-month observation period, 38% of the providers requested historical data fo r use in clinical decision making. The requests were made for 19% of t he patients, and represent 4% of the provider-initiated transactions o n the computing system (328 per month). A survey also indicated that h istorical data are beneficial in clinical decision making.