EHR-Linked Reminder System for Glaucoma Meds Perceived Useful

FRIDAY, Dec. 14, 2018 (HealthDay News) — Patients with glaucoma generally find an electronic health record (EHR)-linked reminder system for glaucoma medications useful, according to a study published online Dec. 13 in JAMA Ophthalmology.

Varshini Varadaraj, M.B.B.S., from the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, and colleagues examined the feasibility of implementing an EHR-linked, automated reminder system for glaucoma medications in a prospective cross-sectional study. A web-based application was added to the EHR patient portal to allow patients to configure reminders for their glaucoma medications; 100 of 147 patients approached agreed to participate in the study.

The researchers found the only difference between those patients willing to participate and those who were unwilling was a slightly lower medication adherence rate among patients who participated (91 versus 97 percent). Nine percent of participants were classified as being at high risk for poor adherence based on a previously validated risk assessment score compared with 11 percent of nonparticipants. Ninety-four of the 100 participants configured reminders; 95 percent of these participants completed follow-up. Overall, 74, 15, and 11 percent of the participants found the reminders were useful, neutral, and not useful, respectively.

“Electronic health record-based automated text and phone reminders may be an important, affordable, scalable strategy to begin to address one critical factor — poor medication adherence — that leads to vision loss in glaucoma,” write the authors of an accompanying editorial.

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