Medical and Dental Electronic Health Record Reporting Discrepancies in Integrated Patient Care

Oral health mirrors systemic health; yet, few clinics worldwide provide dental care as part of primary medical care, nor are dental records commonly integrated with medical records.

To determine the degree to which misreporting of underlying health conditions poses problems for dental clinicians, we assessed misreporting of 2 common medical health conditions—hypertension and diabetes—at the time of dental examination and assessment.

Using comparative chart analysis, we analyzed medical records of a diverse group of patients previously seen at the University of Texas Physician outpatient practice and then treated at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston School of Dentistry. Electronic health records of patients aged ≥18 y were extracted from 2 databases: Allscripts (University of Texas Physician) and axiUm (University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston). We identified 1,013 patients with the commonly occurring conditions of diabetes, hypertension, or both, with nonintegrated records contained in Allscripts and axiUm. We identified the percentage of those patients previously diagnosed with diabetes and/or hypertension by their physicians who failed to report these conditions to their dental clinicians.

Of those patients with diabetes, 15.1% misreported their diabetes condition to their dental clinicians, while 29.0% of patients with hypertension also misreported. There was no relationship between sex and misreporting of hypertension or diabetes, but age significantly affected reporting of hypertension, with misreporting decreasing with age.

Because these conditions affect treatment planning in the dental clinic, misreporting of underlying medical conditions can have negative outcomes for dental patients. We conclude that policies that support the integration of medical and dental records would meaningfully increase the quality of health care delivered to patients, particularly those dental patients with underlying medical conditions.

Our study illustrates an urgent need for policy innovation within a currently fragmented health care delivery system. Dental clinicians rely on the accuracy of health information provided by patients, which we found was misreported in ~15% to 30% of dental patient records. An integrated health care system can close these misreporting gaps. Policies that support the integration of medical and dental records can improve the quality of health care delivered, particularly for dental patients with underlying medical conditions.