Ilana Graetz, PhD

Telephone visits may offer a simple and convenient option to address patient primary care needs without raising safety concerns.

Using a seamlessly shared inpatient-outpatient electronic health record was associated with greater rates of postdischarge follow-up delivered through telemedicine or laboratory monitoring and without an in-person office visit.

Nonadherence to essential chronic medications and mental health diagnosis were associated with higher hospitalizations and emergency department use among Medicare super-utilizers.

Electronic health record systems have the potential to significantly improve care coordination and, ultimately, clinical care delivery. Still, it is clear that these systems are not silver bullets that will automatically result in better coordination of care and quality.

Racial/ethnic minorities and patients living in poorer neighborhoods were more likely to access their personal health record exclusively with a mobile device.

Patients with higher out-of-pocket visit costs, such as co-payments and deductibles, initiated provider contact by e-mail more often. Patients report that e-mailing changed their care-seeking behaviors and improved overall health.

Patients with diabetes that are cared for by primary care teams with higher cohesion experienced greater EHR-related outcome improvements, compared with patients cared for by lower cohesion teams.