HONOLULU – Specialty physicians can better coordinate the care of patients with chronic diseases using electronic health records and providing e-consulations, according to results of new study.

A five-year project conducted in Hawaii by Kaiser Permanente demonstrated that nephrologists can take a more active role in managing kidney disease by using EHRs to coordinate care among primary and specialty care providers.

Brian J. Lee, MD, and colleagues at Kaiser Permanente developed a new system that allowed nephrologists to use electronic laboratory results to rank more than 10,000 kidney patients who had not yet been referred to a specialist by their risk for kidney failure. The nephrologists monitored the patients who were most at risk to make sure they were getting care in line with evidence-based treatment recommendations and relied on Kaiser Permanente’s EHR system, HealthConnect, to evaluate next steps.

Results of the project showed an increase in early intervention for high-risk patients and a reduction by two-thirds of the number of late specialist referrals – those occurring within four months of the onset of end-stage renal disease.