An Electronic Health Record-Based Automated Self-Rescheduling Tool to Improve Patient Access: Retrospective Cohort Study.

BACKGROUND: In many large health centers, patients face long appointment wait times and difficulties accessing care. Last-minute cancellations and patient no-shows leave unfilled slots in a clinician's schedule, exacerbating delays in care from poor access. The mismatch between the supply of outpatient appointments and patient demand has led health systems to adopt many tools and strategies to minimize appointment no-show rates and fill open slots left by patient cancellations. OBJECTIVE: We evaluated an electronic health record (EHR)-based self-scheduling tool, Fast Pass, at a large academic medical center to understand the impacts of the tool on the ability to fill cancelled appointment slots, patient access to earlier appointments, and clinical revenue from visits that may otherwise have gone unscheduled. METHODS: In this retrospective cohort study, we extracted Fast Pass appointment offers and scheduling data, including patient demographics, from the EHR between June 18, 2022, and March 9, 2023. We analyzed the outcomes of Fast Pass offers (accepted, declined, expired, and unavailable) and the outcomes of scheduled appointments resulting from accepted Fast Pass offers (completed, canceled, and no-show). We stratified outcomes based on appointment specialty. For each specialty, the patient service revenue from appointments filled by Fast Pass was calculated using the visit slots filled, the payer mix of the appointments, and the contribution margin by payer. RESULTS: From June 18 to March 9, 2023, there were a total of 60,660 Fast Pass offers sent to patients for 21,978 available appointments. Of these offers, 6603 (11%) were accepted across all departments, and 5399 (8.9%) visits were completed. Patients were seen a median (IQR) of 14 (4-33) days sooner for their appointments. In a multivariate logistic regression model with primary outcome Fast Pass offer acceptance, patients who were aged 65 years or older (vs 20-40 years; P=.005 odds ratio [OR] 0.86, 95% CI 0.78-0.96), other ethnicity (vs White; P<.001, OR 0.84, 95% CI 0.77-0.91), primarily Chinese speakers (P<.001; OR 0.62, 95% CI 0.49-0.79), and other language speakers (vs English speakers; P=.001; OR 0.71, 95% CI 0.57-0.87) were less likely to accept an offer. Fast Pass added 2576 patient service hours to the clinical schedule, with a median (IQR) of 251 (216-322) hours per month. The estimated value of physician fees from these visits scheduled through 9 months of Fast Pass scheduling in professional fees at our institution was US $3 million. CONCLUSIONS: Self-scheduling tools that provide patients with an opportunity to schedule into cancelled or unfilled appointment slots have the potential to improve patient access and efficiently capture additional revenue from filling unfilled slots. The demographics of the patients accepting these offers suggest that such digital tools may exacerbate inequities in access.

Assessing the contribution of hospital medicine patients to the tertiary quaternary care mission of an academic medical center.

Academic medical centers must balance caring for patients in their community with their role as referral centers for more profitable tertiary quaternary (T/Q) care. Hospital medicine services, which admit patients largely from the emergency department, often have the lowest proportion of T/Q care and may thus be under pressure to demonstrate their value to the health system. Looking at the 5771 patients that were discharged from our hospital medicine service between 2021 and 2022, we found that three quarters (74.6%) of patients had at least one prior outpatient encounter at our institution, and that more than a third (36.1%) were established patients in departments of strategic importance to our institution. Our study provides a framework for academic hospital medicine services looking to assess their patient population's connection with the broader health system and suggests that our hospital medicine service provides inpatient care to a population critical to the role of the institution in our community both locally and regionally.

Across race, ethnicity, and language: An intervention to improve advance care planning documentation unmasks health disparities.

BACKGROUND: Racial and ethnic minority groups are less likely to have advance directives and living wills, despite the importance of advanced care planning (ACP) in end-of-life care. We aimed to understand the impact of an intervention to improve ACP documentation across race, ethnicity, and language on hospitalized patients at our institution. METHODS: We launched an intervention to improve the rates of ACP documentation for hospitalized patients aged >75 or with advanced illness defined by the International Classification of Diseases 10th Revision codes. We analyzed ACP completion rates, preintervention, and intervention, and used interrupted time-series analyses to measure the differential impact of the intervention across race, ethnicity, and language. KEY RESULTS: A total of 10,220 patients met the inclusion criteria. Overall rates of ACP documentation improved from 13.9% to 43.7% in the intervention period, with a 2.47% monthly increase in ACP documentation compared to baseline (p < .001). During the intervention period, the rate of ACP documentation increased by 2.72% per month for non-Hispanic White patients (p < .001), by 1.84% per month for Latinx patients (p < .001), and by 1.9% per month for Black patients (p < .001). Differences in the intervention trends between non-Hispanic White and Latinx patients (p = .04) and Black patients (p = .04) were significant. CONCLUSIONS: An intervention designed to improve ACP documentation in hospitalized patients widened a disparity across race and ethnicity with Latinx and Black patients having lower rates of improvement. Our findings reinforce the need to measure the impact of quality improvement interventions on existing health disparities and to implement specific strategies to prevent worsening disparities.

Finding the time: Hourly variation in average daily census on a hospital medicine service.

Monitoring the average daily census (ADC) is crucial for managing patient flow and allocating resources. This study analyzed hourly fluctuations in the ADC on a hospital medicine service at an academic medical center. Data from 8342 encounters and 6178 unique patients were collected over a year. The ADC peaked at 11 a.m. (164.1 patients/day) and was lowest at 7 p.m. (155.0 patients/day), accounting for a variation of up to 9.1 patients (5.5% of peak census) depending on the time of day the measurement was taken. Understanding how ADC changes throughout the day will help hospital medicine programs to partner with administrators to optimize resource allocation and staffing. Measuring ADC at midnight, as traditionally done, may underestimate workload and therefore contribute to staffing shortages and physician burnout. Hospitals should consider measuring ADC at its peak, between 7 a.m. and 11 a.m., to ensure adequate staffing and high-quality patient care.

Policies to Support Lactation at Highly Ranked US Medical Schools.

This cross-sectional study analyzes lactation support policies at the top 50 US schools of medicine.

Impact of an automated peri-procedural digital health intervention on rates of emergency department visits and readmissions.

BACKGROUND: Providing timely peri-procedural education, reminders, and check-ins can improve patient adherence and clinical outcomes. We sought to retrospectively evaluate the impact of a peri-procedural digital health tool on emergency department (ED) visits and readmissions. METHODS: A digital health tool for peri-procedural care engaged patients at scheduled intervals, resulting in an overall engagement score. Multivariate models determined predictors of tool engagement and post-procedural 30- and 90-day rehospitalizations and ED visits. RESULTS: 11,737 unique completed procedures were analyzed from 10,438 patients. Patients of Black and Latinx race/ethnicity (vs White), those with Medicare and Medicaid insurance (vs commercial), and those with non-activated patient portals (vs activated) were less likely to engage. After adjustment for confounders, higher engagement with the tool was associated with lower rates of 30-day hospitalizations (OR 0.64), 90-day hospitalizations (OR 0.65), and 90-day ED visits (OR 0.77). CONCLUSIONS: Highly engaged patients had fewer 30-day and 90-day ED visit and readmissions, even after adjustment for key confounders. Engagement, and thus the resulting benefits, were not equitably distributed.

Physician Satisfaction With Lactation Resources Following an Intervention to Improve Lactation Accommodations.

Importance: Physicians who attempt to continue breastfeeding after returning from childbearing leave identify numerous obstacles at work, which may affect job satisfaction, retention, and the diversity of the physician workforce. Objective: To study the association between improved lactation accommodation support and physician satisfaction. Design, Setting, and Participants: This cohort study compared the physician experience before and after a July 2020 intervention to improve physician lactation accommodation support at a large, urban, academic health system. The satisfaction of physicians returning from childbearing leave between July 1, 2018, and June 30, 2020 (preintervention), was compared with that of physicians returning from leave between July 1, 2020, and November 30, 2021 (postintervention). Initial data analysis was performed on February 22, 2022, with additional tests for interaction performed on May 18, 2023. Intervention: The intervention included creating functional lactation spaces, redesigning communication regarding lactation resources, establishing physician-specific lactation policies, and developing a program to reimburse faculty for time spent expressing breastmilk in the ambulatory setting. Main Outcomes and Measures: The main outcomes were (1) space improvements, use, and costs of the lactation accommodation program and (2) an ad hoc survey of physicians' reported experience with lactation accommodation support before and after the intervention. Survey data were collected using a 5-point Likert scale to assess physician perceptions of institutional support. Responses collected during the preintervention period were compared with those collected during the postintervention period using unpaired t tests. Results: In this study, 70 clinical faculty (mean [SD] age, 34.4 [2.9] years) took childbearing leave in the preintervention period compared with 52 (mean [SD] age, 34.8 [2.7] years) in the postintervention period. Fifty-eight physicians (83%) completed the preintervention survey and 48 completed the postintervention survey. When comparing the pre- and postintervention periods, faculty reported improvements in finding time in their clinical schedule to devote to pumping (mean [SD] response, 2.5 [1.3] vs 3.6 [1.5]; P < .001), initiatives to address the impact of lactation time on productivity (mean [SD] response, 2.0 [1.0] vs 3.0 [1.5]; P = .001), and a culture supportive of lactation (mean [SD] response, 2.8 [1.4] vs 3.4 [1.3]; P = .047). Forty childbearing faculty took advantage of lactation time reimbursement and were reimbursed a total of $242 744.37. Faculty whose return to work overlapped with the entire year of the study received financial support for lactation for a mean (SD) of 8.9 (0.2) months, with an average reimbursement of $9125.78. Conclusions and Relevance: The findings of this cohort study suggest that a multifaceted intervention to combat common challenges in lactation support in academic medical centers yielded improvements in faculty perceptions of institutional support for pumping breastmilk, addressing the impact of lactation time on productivity, and providing a culture supportive of lactation. These findings support the adoption of interventions to improve physician lactation accommodations.

Impact of standardized, language-concordant hospital discharge instructions on postdischarge medication questions.

Written instructions improve patient comprehension of discharge instructions but are often provided only in English even for patients with a non-English language preference (NELP). We implemented standardized written discharge instructions in English, Spanish, and Chinese for hospital medicine patients at an urban academic medical center. Using an interrupted time series analysis, we assessed the impact on medication-related postdischarge questions for patients with English, Spanish, or Chinese language preferences. Of 4013 patients, ∼15% had NELP. Preintervention, Chinese-preferring patients had a 5.6 percentage point higher probability of questions (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 1.55, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.08, 2.21) compared to English-preferring patients; Spanish-preferring and English-preferring patients had similar rates of questions. Postintervention, English-preferring and Spanish-preferring patients had no significant change; Chinese-preferring patients had a significant 10.9 percentage point decrease in the probability of questions (aOR = 0.38, 95% CI: 0.21, 0.69) thereby closing the disparity. Language-concordant written discharge instructions may reduce disparities in medication-related postdischarge questions for patients with NELP.

Impact of patient portal-based self-scheduling of diagnostic imaging studies on health disparities.

While many case studies have described the implementation of self-scheduling tools, which allow patients to schedule visits and imaging studies asynchronously online, none have explored the impact of self-scheduling on equitable access to care.1 Using an electronic health record patient portal, University of California San Francisco deployed a self-scheduling tool that allowed patients to self-schedule diagnostic imaging studies. We analyzed electronic health record data for the imaging modalities with the option to be self-scheduled from January 1, 2021 to September 1, 2021. We used descriptive statistics to compare demographic characteristics and created a multivariable logistic regression model to identify predictors of patient self-scheduling utilization. Among all active patient portal users, Latinx, Black/African American, and non-English speaking patients were less likely to self-schedule studies. Patients with Medi-Cal, California's Medicaid program, and Medicare insurance were also less likely to self-schedule when compared with commercially insured patients. Efforts to facilitate use of patient portal-based applications are necessary to increase equitability and decrease disparities in access.

Utilization patterns and efficiency gains from use of a fully EHR-integrated COVID-19 self-triage and self-scheduling tool: a retrospective analysis.

OBJECTIVE: Symptom checkers can help address high demand for SARS-CoV2 (COVID-19) testing and care by providing patients with self-service access to triage recommendations. However, health systems may be hesitant to invest in these tools, as their associated efficiency gains have not been studied. We aimed to quantify the operational efficiency gains associated with use of an online COVID-19 symptom checker as an alternative to a telephone hotline. METHODS: In our health system, ambulatory patients can either use an online symptom checker or a telephone hotline to be triaged and connected to COVID-19 care. We performed a retrospective analysis of adults who used either method between October 20, 2021 and January 10, 2022, using call logs, electronic health record data, and local wages to calculate labor costs. RESULTS: Of the 15 549 total COVID-19 triage encounters, 1820 (11.7%) used only the telephone hotline and 13 729 (88.3%) used the symptom checker. Only 271 (2%) of the patients who used the symptom checker also called the hotline. Hotline encounters required more clinician time compared to those involving the symptom checker (17.8 vs 0.4 min/encounter), resulting in higher average labor costs ($24.21 vs $0.55 per encounter). The symptom checker resulted in over 4200 clinician labor hours saved. CONCLUSION: When given the option, most patients completed COVID-19 triage and visit scheduling online, resulting in substantial efficiency gains. These benefits may encourage health system investment in such tools.

Primary care gap: factors associated with persistent lack of primary care after hospitalisation.

INTRODUCTION: Access to primary care in the USA is associated with decreased acute care utilisation and better health outcomes, yet millions of Americans lack a primary care provider (PCP). In our study, we report the risk factors for having no assigned PCP for hospitalised patients both at the time of discharge and over the course of the following year. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of 12 663 adult patients discharged from the medicine service at our academic inpatient hospital from 2017 to 2018. We compared the characteristics of patients with and without a PCP listed in the electronic health record at time of discharge. In a second analysis, for those patients without a PCP, we used subsequent encounters with our health system to compare characteristics of those who had a PCP assigned within 1 year after discharge with those who did not. RESULTS: At time of discharge, patients without a PCP were more likely to be younger, male, non-Asian and non-Black, to have Medicaid insurance or to be self-pay, to be experiencing homelessness and to have a substance use disorder diagnosis. During the year after discharge, the most significant risk factors for persistently lacking a PCP were non-private insurance status (Medicaid, Medicare, self-pay), experiencing homelessness and having a substance use disorder diagnosis. DISCUSSION: Our study demonstrates important risk factors for persistently lacking an assigned PCP in our urban patient population, including health insurance status, homelessness and substance use disorders. Targeted interventions are indicated to connect these high-risk individuals to primary care.

Impact of a resident and student-led video visitation navigation program.

BACKGROUND: Many institutions implemented telehealth initiatives to provide social support for patients during the SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) pandemic. Little is known about the impact of these programs on patient support persons and the trainees who facilitated them. OBJECTIVE: To assess perceptions of a resident physician and medical student-driven video visit program. METHODS: We designed and implemented a trainee-led video visit navigation program across three affiliated urban hospitals to facilitate video visits between patients and their support persons. We used descriptive statistics to understand the patient population served by the program and employed surveys for support persons and trainees to assess attitudes on the program. RESULTS: From April to June 2020, a total of 443 video visits were completed. Surveys were conducted for 101 out of 184 (54.9%) support persons and 39 out of 65 (60.0%) of medical trainees. Surveys demonstrated that video visits helped alleviate the stress and anxiety of support persons having a hospitalized loved one they could not visit. For trainees, facilitating these connections helped mitigate stress and provided a mechanism to contribute to the pandemic response. CONCLUSION: Telehealth navigation programs provide high levels of connection for patients and their support persons during the COVID-19 pandemic and potentially beyond. Residents and medical students involved in these initiatives mobilized telehealth modalities to improve experiences with care delivery.

Building a Targeted Automatic e-Consult (TACo) Program.

DRIVING FORCES: Traditional specialty consults are resource intensive and may be delayed or omitted if the treating physician does not recognize the need for specialty advice. Targeted automatic e-consults (TACos) address these limitations by prospectively identifying patients using the electronic health record (EHR) and presenting pertinent information on a dashboard, enabling consultants to provide a virtual consult with written recommendations. The TACo model may improve value by facilitating more expert input without a proportional increase in cost. BUILDING A TACO: Through our experience developing a TACo program, we have identified four key steps. First, identify appropriate conditions that have support from the health system and from frontline clinicians. Second, design the digital infrastructure, including lists and dashboards. Third, create a funding plan to support the consultant's time, either through internal grants, external grants, e-consult billing codes, or some combination of the three. Fourth, pilot on a select number of services, iterate, and scale. CHALLENGES: Funding for TACos has been a major barrier to adoption. Fortunately, new e-consult billing codes may make it possible to recoup as least part of the program's cost. Technological hurdles also exist, particularly in building real-time lists within the EHR to prospectively identify patients based on complex criteria. NEXT STEPS: We look for this model to gain popularity as evidence of clinical and operational benefit mounts. We anticipate reimbursement policies may be updated to support this type of consult. Finally, we expect machine learning to play a role in identifying patients and providing recommendations in the future.

Emergency general surgery utilization and disparities during COVID-19: an interrupted time-series analysis.

OBJECTIVE: We aimed to compare general surgery emergency (GSE) volume, demographics and disease severity before and during COVID-19. BACKGROUND: Presentations to the emergency department (ED) for GSEs fell during the early COVID-19 pandemic. Barriers to accessing care may be heightened, especially for vulnerable populations, and patients delaying care raises public health concerns. METHODS: We included adult patients with ED presentations for potential GSEs at a single quaternary-care hospital from January 2018 to August 2020. To compare GSE volumes in total and by subgroup, an interrupted time-series analysis was performed using the March shelter-in-place order as the start of the COVID-19 period. Bivariate analysis was used to compare demographics and disease severity. RESULTS: 3255 patients (28/week) presented with potential GSEs before COVID-19, while 546 (23/week) presented during COVID-19. When shelter-in-place started, presentations fell by 8.7/week (31%) from the previous week (p<0.001), driven by decreases in peritonitis (ß=-2.76, p=0.017) and gallbladder disease (ß=-2.91, p=0.016). During COVID-19, patients were younger (54 vs 57, p=0.001), more often privately insured (44% vs 38%, p=0.044), and fewer required interpreters (12% vs 15%, p<0.001). Fewer patients presented with sepsis during the pandemic (15% vs 20%, p=0.009) and the average severity of illness decreased (p<0.001). Length of stay was shorter during the COVID-19 period (3.91 vs 5.50 days, p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: GSE volumes and severity fell during the pandemic. Patients presenting during the pandemic were less likely to be elderly, publicly insured and have limited English proficiency, potentially exacerbating underlying health disparities and highlighting the need to improve care access for these patients. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: III.

Ask About What Matters: An Intervention to Improve Accessible Advance Care Planning Documentation.

CONTEXT: Advance care planning (ACP) informs future medical decision-making, especially for patients with advanced age or serious illness. For clinicians to act on these preferences, or continue the ACP conversation as illness progresses, documentation of ACP discussions must be readily accessible within the electronic health record (EHR). OBJECTIVES: Develop an intervention to improve accessible ACP documentation for hospitalized patients and assess its impact on viewing and documentation of ACP conversations within a specific EHR location. METHODS: Adult patients age 75 or older or with serious illness discharged during a two-year period were included. The EHR's ACP Navigator was targeted as the intended location for documenting ACP-related activities. We implemented a hospital-wide, multipronged intervention that included increased ACP Navigator visibility and a process for workflow-congruent ACP documentation. Accessible ACP documentation was measured by documentation within the ACP Navigator and was analyzed by interrupted time-series analysis. ACP Navigator access was measured by user audit logs. RESULTS: After the intervention, 6703 of 16,117 (41.6%) patient encounters had accessible ACP documentation, compared to 3689 of 13,143 (28.1%) preintervention (P < .001). In the intervention's first month, accessible ACP documentation increased 5.3% (P < .001, CI 2.9%-7.6%), followed by a 1.3% monthly increase relative to the preintervention period (P < .001, CI 1.0%-1.6%). ACP Navigator access for patients with ACP documentation increased in the intervention period (52.2% vs. 39.8%, P < .001). CONCLUSION: An institution-wide intervention significantly increased accessible ACP documentation within a centralized location of the EHR. EHR usability changes improved rates of accessible ACP documentation and subsequent views of this documentation.