Empire says it pulls about 60 files a day for close examination. It then turns the files over to a company that examines the patient's labs tests, prescriptions and medical procedures for evidence of mistaken diagnoses or inappropriate treatment. The records are referred to academic specialists for independent review. If the review turns up a problem, Empire's doctors call the patient's physicians to suggest corrections. Empire says it makes one or two such calls a day.
Empire points to cases where errant care was corrected before it did harm.
In the case of a patient admitted to a hospital for knee surgery, it was found that he had been taking an unnecessarily dangerous drug to combat colitis. Another patient was found to be taking a blood thinner she did not need but not taking anticholesterol drugs she did need. And, her records indicated, she had not been properly examined for peptic ulcer disease. A third patient was found to be taking duplicate drugs both to lower her cholesterol and to lower her blood pressure. Empire's system provides daily checks, rather than the quarterly and annual reports of many other clinical-data systems.