Shared care for diabetes: supporting communication between primary and secondary care

As health care becomes more complex, interest in the benefits of coordination of care has increased. Especially patients that are being treated jointly by more than one physician (shared care), are vulnerable to adverse effects resulting from inadequate coordination and communication. We describe a study in which care providers support shared care by using computer-based patient records for data storage, and structured electronic data interchange (EDI) as a means of communication. The study showed that the electronic communication network for exchanging consultation outcomes significantly increased frequency of communication and the availability of data to the general practitioner on diagnostic procedures performed in the hospital, thus providing more complete information about the care that patients are receiving.