As the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT continues to hone its definition of meaningful use for health IT, it should take note of the results of Kaiser Permanente’s osteoporosis prevention program.

Kaiser Permanente conducted a study that tracked the 650,000 members over 50 years of age in its osteoporosis management program. Proactive management of patients at risk resulted in a reduction of hip fractures by 38 percent. In 2007 alone, the program prevented 970 hip fractures. Equally impressive were the results of Kaiser Permanente Southern California's Healthy Bones Program, which covered 2002 to 2007. Whereas the national average for the rate of treatment after a fragility fracture is 20 percent, the Healthy Bones Program's rate of treatment after a fragility fracture is 68 percent.

On the heels of these studies, Kaiser Permanente officials say that the proactive management of patients at risk of osteoporosis could reduce the hip fracture rate in the U.S. by 25 percent. Obviously, there are many critical components to the success of the program, including team-based care or collaborative care across multiple specialties. But what's equally important is the use of EHRs - in Kaiser Permanente's case it is its HealthConnect EHR - to identify patients at risk, deliver alerts to caregivers of missed screenings or other gaps in care and track treatment compliance. The information needs to be aggregated and analyzed in real time. You simply can't do that with paper charts, especially when you're talking about managing 650,000 members in a program.

EHR skeptics take note: This is meaningful use of health IT at its purest.

To the swelling number of Baby Boomers reaching that age where they are at risk for osteoporosis, Kaiser Permanente's study is promising news.