COMPETE III: Overview

COMPETE is the original electronic health research group in Canada and has the largest experience with implementation and evaluation of electronic decision support for patients and providers in the country. COMPETE Ι focused on successful implementation of Electronic Medical Records (EMRs) in small, community-based primary care offices. COMPETE ΙΙ developed a decision support tool (CII Diabetes Tracker) for the high priority and costly chronic disease, diabetes, then tested it combined with automated telephone reminders, in a large randomized trial. The results analysis is near completion.

COMPETE ΙΙΙ built on the research initiated in COMPETE I and II. This next stage of investigation was broadened to vascular risk, - diabetes, hypertension, cholesterol, previous heart attack or stroke. The electronic health care network was also expanded beyond patients and primary care providers to include specialists and Clinical Care Coordinators. The focus was to optimize patient-clinician interactions with the support of the technology to enhance the quality, safety and efficiency of care. They examined the effect of motivational strategies to change patient and clinician behaviour as well as cost-effectiveness.

In COMPETE III, Clinical Care Coordinators ensured that the interaction between physician and patient actually happened and that the information they reviewed was up-to-date. The Clinical Care Coordinators tailored our automated telephone support, which provided reminders to the patient to keep physician appointments, lab appointments and prescription refill appointments, to deliver just-in-time messages according to the patient preferences.

Now that COMPETE III is completed, plans for the next phase of the project on “Building Towards a National Electronic Decision Support Delivery & Research Network for Health ” are brewing.