Abstract
The primary use of electronic medical records (EMRs) is to record ongoing interaction between patients and the health systems in which they participate. Secondary uses of the EMR continue to emerge providing opportunities for high-quality population health research as well as health promotion efforts. Research and health promotion activities involving the EMR may be passive and/or active. Secondary EMR activities are being focused on improving patient and provider management of chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease (CVD). CVD affects over 30 % of American adults, and the EMR contains information relevant to this multifaceted disease. Secondary EMR use related to CVD research and awareness includes functioning as a data repository, recruiting study participants, building predictive analytics, developing algorithms for disease screening, and delivering disease management tools. Diverse secondary EMR applications have revealed successes, challenges, and limitations highlighting new lessons learned and opportunities in health promotion and population research.
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Randi Foraker reports grants from Pfizer, Inc., during the conduct of the study; grants from Pfizer, Inc., outside the submitted work. In addition, Foraker has a patent Electronic medical record web application pending. Bobbie Kite is on grant #T15LM011270-02 through the National Library of Medicine. Wilkister Tangasi, Marjorie Kelley, and Julie Bower have no conflicts of interest.
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This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.
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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Cardiovascular Risk Health Policy
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Kite, B.J., Tangasi, W., Kelley, M. et al. Electronic Medical Records and Their Use in Health Promotion and Population Research of Cardiovascular Disease. Curr Cardiovasc Risk Rep 9, 422 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12170-014-0422-5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12170-014-0422-5