health systems The Pediatric Department at the Kaiser Permanente Medical Center in Fontana, California, has implemented an innovative tool to support the efforts of their population-based care management programs and of some subspecialty clinics. In collaboration with the Learning Behavior Clinic and the Pediatric Asthma Clinic teams, project leaders have developed and deployed a functionally interactive intrafacility Web site through which clinical information and tracking systems are used as

more »

... tool to manage chronic diseases efficiently and effectively in large populations of patients. This Intranet approach provides a common platform to solve unrelated problems. In addition, the lessons learned in serving one population are easily transferred to expedite successful management of another, unrelated group once the proper infrastructure is established. Introduction of the electronic medical record is forthcoming, and a system for tracking specific patient populations will complement-not supplant-this technology.