Quality & Patient Safety

Study: Disease Registries Improve Care, Reduce Costs

Written by Jaimie Oh | December 08, 2011

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An international study of thirteen registries in five countries suggests that disease registries enable healthcare professionals to engage in continuous learning as well as identify and share best clinical practices, according to a Health Affairs release.

The researchers relied on 13 disease registries in Australia, Denmark, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States that dealt with six medical conditions or procedures. In addition, the researchers interviewed 32 healthcare professionals to better understand how registries function and to identify ways they are able to influence clinical practice.

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The researchers discovered many examples where the use of the registry was associated with improvements in health outcomes.

For example, Sweden began a registry for hip replacement surgery in 1979. Since then, Sweden has reduced the number of revision surgeries to 10 percent, resulting in $14 million in annual savings. The authors estimate that a similar registry in the United States would avoid some $2 billion of an expected $24 billion in total costs for these surgeries in 2015.

The authors have called on the U.S. government to create the necessary regulations and seed funding for the development of disease registries, which have been slow to grow in the United States.