• Disease registries generally supplement rather than replace individual patient medical records and should support providers in the treatment setting.
• Registries differ from EMRs in that they manage only selected information relevant to one or more chronic diseases rather than more comprehensive information about patient problems, health history, and care.

Figure 1: Basic Functions of a Disease Registry

• The major function of a disease registry is to provide multiple views of information about a list of patients for use in three situations:

• At the point of care,
  to provide patient-specific information (e.g., lab results, medication lists) and advice to support decision making.
• Between visits,
  to assist in identifying patients with apparent gaps in care.
• Periodically,
  to provide status reports showing aggregate information about the patient population for use in gauging progress and continually improving care delivery.