How Kaiser Permanente's EHR evaluates medical devices
beckershospitalreview.com
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Contributed by: Jackson Short
Summary
Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, California, leverages electronic health record (EHR) data to monitor and evaluate medical device performance, aiming to enhance patient care quality and safety. Liz Paxton, PhD, head of medical device surveillance, discusses how their EHR tracks over 4.2 million devices, aiding in identifying safety issues and optimizing surgical outcomes. Initially developed as a paper-based system, the registry now integrates directly with EHRs, facilitating comprehensive data collection on patient characteristics and surgical processes. This approach not only helps in identifying high-performing devices but also enables personalized patient care through risk factor analysis. Kaiser Permanente shares its findings with the FDA and the broader medical community, contributing to national and international healthcare improvements. Future plans include evolving from traditional registries to utilizing existing EHR data for a national surveillance system, aiming to enhance patient safety by early detection of device-related issues.
