The activities of medical care providers and their organizations are coordinated by medical records, increasingly electronic medical records (EMRs). The central issue in EMR use is the comprehensive recording of objective facts in organized and intuitively logical sections that promote better patient outcomes, practice efficiency, and positive practitioner experience. A critical component section of EMRs is the summary complete patient problem list.

The Global Burden of Diseases studies provide rich information on the major health conditions in populations demanding optimal diagnosis and management. Additionally, multiple credible sources provide evidence- based guidelines for diagnosis and interventions. A challenge is how to bring these data together in EMRs to address the central issue of providing high-quality care.

This communication proposes expanding the information provided with specific diagnoses in the patient problem list by itemizing with these their anatomic, pathologic and biochemical characteristics to provide staging and intervention targeting information. Example templates of key characteristics for hypertension, ischemic heart disease, diabetes, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and breast cancer illustrate how this procedure can describe these individual patient diagnoses in depth and identify appropriate diagnostic and management strategies to promote quality of care. The initial professional work time to create such information panels should be less than the work time expended during follow-up visits.