Medscape Physician Consortium to Create Quality and Outcomes Database

Medscape and a coalition of clinicians who use the company's electronic medical records program will pool clinical data to create a database of health care quality and outcomes information, the company announced last week. The Medscape Quality Improvement Consortium, which includes approximately 550 physicians, will compile information from 600,000 patients and more than two million physician encounters into an anonymous database. The coalition will use the data to report on long-term health improvement and disease prevention programs, beginning with diabetes care. Medscape executives said provider organizations, payers, regulatory bodies and pharmaceutical companies are potential customers for the reports. The project is also intended to demonstrate the extent to which EMR technology can be used to improve patient outcomes and health care quality (Medscape release, 7/25).