A national disease registry moves beyond clinical impact, fostering measurable cost savings at the community hospital level.

National disease registries have existed for many years, and give hospitals and medical professionals centralized, disease-specific databases that can be used to study both treatment protocols and quality outcomes. To date, most efforts have focused on the quality management and clinical aspects of disease registries. However, Sierra Nevada Memorial Hospital, using the National Registry for Myocardial Infarction, recently concluded a study that identified and then attempted to quantify several positive financial effects on the hospital in terms of improved cost outcomes and resource management. The study concluded that activities that improve clinical outcomes (reduce mortality, morbidity, and complications) for acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients can have a wide range of effects not only for the patients themselves, but also on the cost of care and the utilization of resources. The study discovered that these effects can be measured and expressed quantitatively or qualitatively. Consequently, improving the clinical quality of AMI patient care or reducing the costs of that care can be expected to produce enhanced value for health care consumers, providers, and the health care economy. Furthermore, it is highly likely that this principle would apply to many other kinds of disease registry programs when used to support quality improvement activities.