title: Short-term Impact of Meaningful Use Stage 1 Implementation: A Comparison of Health Outcomes in 2 Primary Care Clinics.
abstract: We studied a primary care clinic transitioning to Meaningful Use stage 1 and a comparison clinic within the same health system. In the 6 months following implementation, after adjusting for confounders, mean systolic blood pressure worsened (+3.3 mm Hg; P = .004) in the intervention clinic compared with the comparison clinic. We did not see a change in the mean or proportion of patients meeting target goals for diabetes (hemoglobin A1c) or obesity (body mass index). Our findings suggest that the worsening of systolic blood pressure associated with Meaningful Use implementation is likely due to distractions of system changes negatively impacting health outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Duke University School of Medicine, Durham, North Carolina (Ms Afonso); and Department of Family and Preventive Medicine, Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, Georgia (Drs Alfonso and Morgan).
authors.forename: Anna M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Afonso
authors.forename: Susana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Alfonso
authors.forename: Toyosi O
authors.initials: TO
authors.lastname: Morgan
mesh_terms: D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities; D004059:Diffusion of Innovation; D006801:Humans; D062527:Meaningful Use; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care / Q000379:methods; D011320:Primary Health Care; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014481:United States