The feasibility and accuracy of evaluating lipid management performance metrics using an electronic health record.

Background: Over the past decade, electronic health records (EHRs) have emerged as a potential tool to assess quality of care; however, the feasibility and accuracy of EHRs to assess adherence to lipid management performance measures have not been evaluated.

Methods: We created a retrospective cohort of 3779 patients with coronary artery disease who were followed up in a cardiology clinic at an academic medical center using an EHR database. Of these 3779 patients, 300 randomly-selected charts were reviewed to identify reasons for failure to adhere to lipid management performance measures.

Hypertension control among patients followed by cardiologists.

Background: Hypertension control is an important and modifiable risk factor for cardiovascular disease. The overall rate of hypertension control among patients followed in cardiology clinics, as well as clinician variability in control rates, is unknown.

Methods And Results: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of patients with hypertension (n=5979) routinely followed in a cardiology clinic (n=47 physicians).