Understanding the delivery of cancer screening through the lens of Electronic Medical Records

Introduction: One potential benefit of Electronic Medical Records (EMR) is to promote the delivery of quality medical care. Yet few studies have demonstrated how EMR can facilitate decision-makers to formulate more effective and targeted strategies. Methods: Working with the data services unit at a community health center (CHC), our research team devoted 12 months to design and implement a data extraction protocol that integrated USPSTF guidelines to better understand the patient screening behaviors of the Vietnamese patients, who has the lowest CRC screening rate compared with other patient populations at the clinic. Data was extracted from the ICHS Enterprise Practice Management and EMR. Effects of co-morbidity and continuity of care were also examined. Results: Patients who had public health insurance and a higher continuity of care index were more likely to adhere to CRC screening. Primary care provider's language concordance also had an interaction effect on CRC screening adherence. Conclusions: EMR data extraction provided an efficient and standard measure on how well the patient, the provider, and the organization performed. Our findings underscore the impact of continuity of care and language matched services on CRC screening. This study illustrates the significant contribution EMR data could provide to enhance clinic operations, decision making, and performance.