• Steven J Atlas, Richard W Grant, William T Lester, Jeffrey M Ashburner, Yuchiao Chang, Michael J Barry, and Henry C Chueh.
• General Medicine Division, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, 50 Staniford Street, Boston, MA 02114, USA. satlas@partners.org
• J Gen Intern Med. 2011 Feb 1; 26 (2): 154161154-61.

BackgroundInformation technology offers the promise, as yet unfulfilled, of delivering efficient, evidence-based health care.ObjectiveTo evaluate whether a primary care network-based informatics intervention can improve breast cancer screening rates.DesignCluster-randomized controlled trial of 12 primary care practices conducted from March 20, 2007 to March 19, 2008.PatientsWomen 42-69 years old with no record of a mammogram in the prior 2 years.InterventionsIn intervention practices, a population-based informatics system was implemented that: connected overdue patients to appropriate care providers, presented providers with a Web-based list of their overdue patients in a non-visit-based setting, and enabled "one-click" mammography ordering or documented deferral reasons. Patients selected for mammography received automatically generated letters and follow-up phone calls. All practices had electronic health record reminders about breast cancer screening available during clinical encounters.Main MeasuresThe primary outcome was the proportion of overdue women undergoing mammography at 1-year follow-up.Key ResultsBaseline mammography rates in intervention and control practices did not differ (79.5% vs 79.3%, p = 0.73). Among 3,054 women in intervention practices and 3,676 women in control practices overdue for mammograms, intervention patients were somewhat younger, more likely to be non-Hispanic white, and have health insurance. Most intervention providers used the system (65 of 70 providers, 92.9%). Action was taken for 2,652 (86.8%) intervention patients [2,274 (74.5%) contacted and 378 (12.4%) deferred]. After 1 year, mammography rates were significantly higher in the intervention arm (31.4% vs 23.3% in control arm, p < 0.001 after adjustment for baseline differences; 8.1% absolute difference, 95% CI 5.1-11.2%). All demographic subgroups benefited from the intervention. Intervention patients completed screening sooner than control patients (p < 0.001).ConclusionsA novel population-based informatics system functioning as part of a non-visit-based care model increased mammography screening rates in intervention practices.Trial RegistrationClinicalTrials.gov; NCT00462891.

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