Progress towards an OECD reporting framework for transcriptomics and metabolomics in regulatory toxicology.

Omics methodologies are widely used in toxicological research to understand modes and mechanisms of toxicity. Increasingly, these methodologies are being applied to questions of regulatory interest such as molecular point-of-departure derivation and chemical grouping/read-across. Despite its value, widespread regulatory acceptance of omics data has not yet occurred. Barriers to the routine application of omics data in regulatory decision making have been: 1) lack of transparency for data processing methods used to convert raw data into an interpretable list of observations; and 2) lack of standardization in reporting to ensure that omics data, associated metadata and the methodologies used to generate results are available for review by stakeholders, including regulators. Thus, in 2017, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Extended Advisory Group on Molecular Screening and Toxicogenomics (EAGMST) launched a project to develop guidance for the reporting of omics data aimed at fostering further regulatory use. Here, we report on the ongoing development of the first formal reporting framework describing the processing and analysis of both transcriptomic and metabolomic data for regulatory toxicology. We introduce the modular structure, content, harmonization and strategy for trialling this reporting framework prior to its publication by the OECD.

Documentation of Dementia as a Cause of Death Among Mexican-American Decedents Diagnosed with Dementia.

BACKGROUND: Hispanic older adults are a high-risk population for Alzheimer's disease and related dementias (ADRD) but are less likely than non-Hispanic White older adults to have ADRD documented as a cause of death on a death certificate. OBJECTIVE: To investigate characteristics associated with ADRD as a cause of death among Mexican-American decedents diagnosed with ADRD. METHODS: Data came from the Hispanic Established Populations for the Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly, Medicare claims, and National Death Index. RESULTS: The final sample included 853 decedents diagnosed with ADRD of which 242 had ADRD documented as a cause of death. More health comorbidities (OR = 0.40, 95% CI = 0.28-0.58), older age at death (OR = 1.18, 95% CI = 1.03-1.36), and longer ADRD duration (OR = 1.08, 95% CI = 1.03-1.14) were associated with ADRD as a cause of death. In the last year of life, any ER admission without a hospitalization (OR = 0.45, 95% CI = 0.22-0.92), more physician visits (OR = 0.96, 95% CI = 0.93-0.98), and seeing a medical specialist (OR = 0.46, 95% CI = 0.29-0.75) were associated with lower odds for ADRD as a cause of death. In the last 30 days of life, any hospitalization with an ICU stay (OR = 0.55, 95% CI = 0.36-0.82) and ER admission with a hospitalization (OR = 0.67, 95% CI = 0.48-0.94) were associated with lower odds for ADRD as a cause of death. Receiving hospice care in the last 30 days of life was associated with 1.98 (95% CI = 1.37-2.87) higher odds for ADRD as a cause of death. CONCLUSION: Under-documentation of ADRD as a cause of death may reflect an underestimation of resource needs for Mexican-Americans with ADRD.

Interassessor agreement of portfolio-based competency assessment for orthotists/prosthetists in Australia: a mixed method study.

BACKGROUND: Internationally qualified orthotists/prosthetists who want to practice in Australia must pass a portfolio-based competency assessment. Testing the agreement between independent assessors is important to engender confidence in the assessment, and continually improve the processes. OBJECTIVES: To quantify interassessor agreement for all 68 performance indicators in the Australian Orthotic Prosthetic Association's Entry Level Competency Standards and where there was significant disagreement between assessors, to explore the reasons why. STUDY DESIGN: Mixed methods: explanatory sequential. METHOD: Fifteen portfolios were assigned to independent assessors. Assessors determined whether the evidence presented met the requirements of each performance indicator. Interassessor agreement was calculated using Gwet's Agreement Coefficient 1 (AC1), and these data informed semistructured interviews to explore the reasons for disagreement. RESULTS: Most performance indicators (87%) had moderate to substantial agreement (AC1 > 0.71), which could be attributed to a variety of factors including the use of a simple assessment rubric with supporting guidelines and assessor training to establish shared expectations. The remaining performance indicators (13%) had fair to slight agreement (AC1 ≤ 0.7). Interviews with assessors suggested that disagreement could be attributed to the complexity of some performance indicators, unconscious bias, and the appropriateness of the evidence presented. CONCLUSIONS: Although most performance indicators in Australian Orthotic Prosthetic Association's Entry Level Competency Standard were associated with moderate to substantial interassessor agreement, there are opportunities to improve agreement by simplifying the wording of some performance indicators and revising guidelines to help applicants curate the most appropriate evidence for each performance indicator.

Improving clinical documentation of evaluation and management care and patient acuity improves reimbursement as well as quality metrics.

OBJECTIVE: Accurate documentation of patient care and acuity is essential to determine appropriate reimbursement as well as accuracy of key publicly reported quality metrics. We sought to investigate the impact of standardized note templates by inpatient advanced practice providers (APPs) on evaluation and management (E/M) charge capture, including outside of the global surgical package (GSP), and quality metrics including case mix index (CMI) and mortality index (MI). We hypothesized this clinical documentation initiative as well as improved coding of E/M services would result in increased reimbursement and quality metrics. METHODS: A documentation and coding initiative on the heart and vascular service line was initiated in 2016 with focus on improving inpatient E/M capture by APPs outside the GSP. Comprehensive training sessions and standardized documentation templates were created and implemented in the electronic medical record. Subsequent hospital care E/M (current procedural terminology codes 99231, 99232, 99233) from the years 2015 to 2017 were audited and analyzed for charge capture rates, collections, work relative value units (wRVUs), and billing complexity. Data were compared over time by standardizing CMS values and reimbursement rates. In addition, overall CMI and MI were calculated each year. RESULTS: One year following the documentation initiative, E/M charges on the vascular surgery service line increased by 78.5% with a corresponding increase in APP charges from 0.4% of billable E/M services to 70.4% when compared with pre-initiative data. The charge capture of E/M services among all inpatients rose from 21.4% to 37.9%. Additionally, reimbursement from CMS increased by 65% as total work relative value units generated from E/M services rose by 78.4% (797 to 1422). The MI decreased over the study period by 25.4%. Additionally, there was a corresponding 5.6% increase in the cohort CMI. Distribution of E/M encounter charges did not vary significantly. Meanwhile, the prevalence of 14 clinical comorbidities in our cohort as well as length of stay (P = .88) remained non-statistically different throughout the study period. CONCLUSIONS: Accurate clinical documentation of E/M care and ultimately inpatient acuity is critical in determining quality metrics that serve as important measures of overall hospital quality for CMS value-based payments and rankings. A system-based documentation initiative and expanded role of inpatient APPs on vascular surgery teams significantly improved charge capture and reimbursement outside the GSP as well as CMI and MI in a consistently complex patient population.

[Validation, reproducibility, and reliability of food photographic record for food intake assessment]. / Validación, reproducibilidad y confiabIlidad del registro dietético fotográfico para la valoración de la ingesta alimentaria.

INTRODUCTION: Introduction: food intake records are a useful resource for diet assessment, as well as for self-evaluation, self-control, and self-motivation to change an eating behavior. New technologies based on mobile phones permit a different way of recording food intake. Objective: to validate and assess food photographic record (FPR) as a useful instrument in professional practice for assessing food intake. Methodology: forty nutrition professionals participated. In a first stage, food variables obtained through FPR were analyzed and correlated with data from the frequency of food consumption questionnaire (FFQ) and a 24-hour recall (24HR). In a second stage, FPR was applied again to evaluate temporal stability (FPR 1 versus FPR 2). Wilcoxon's test and Spearman's correlation test were applied. Results: a moderate and significant positive association was found for total caloric intake (TCI) and total fat between FPR and 24HR (r = 0.68, p = 0.0008, and r = 0.52, p = 0.01, respectively). In addition, a positive and moderate association was found for TCI, proteins and fats between FPR 1 and FPR 2 (r = 0.61, p = 0.0004; r = 0.60, p = 0.0005; r = 0.64, p = 0.0002, respectively). Conclusion: FPR is a valid method for professional practice to estimate dietary intake, with greater consistency with 24HR data than FFQ, and presents temporal stability for TCI, protein and fat recordings. In addition, FPR may facilitate the adoption of positive eating habits such as more conscious intakes, among other benefits.

INTRODUCCIÓN: Introducción: registrar la ingesta alimentaria permite valorar la dieta y facilita el proceso de autoevaluación, autocontrol y motivación al cambio del comportamiento alimentario. Las nuevas tecnologías y el uso de los teléfonos móviles permiten otra forma de registrar la ingesta. Objetivo: validar y valorar el registro dietético fotográfico (RDF) como instrumento de utilidad en la práctica profesional. Metodología: participaron 40 licenciados en Nutrición. En una primera etapa, se analizaron y correlacionaron las variables alimentarias obtenidas a través de los instrumentos RDF frente a un cuestionario de frecuencia de consumo alimentario (CFCA) y un recordatorio de 24 horas (R24hs). En una segunda etapa se aplicó nuevamente el RDF y se valoró su estabilidad temporal en los registros obtenidos (RDF 1 y RDF 2). Se aplicaron el test de Wilcoxon y el test de correlación de Spearman. Resultados: se encontró una asociación positiva moderada y estadísticamente significativa para el VET y las grasas totales entre el RDF y el R24hs (r = 0,68, p = 0,0008 y r = 0,52, p = 0,01, respectivamente). Además, se observó una asociación positiva de intensidad moderada y estadísticamente significativa para el VET, las proteínas y las grasas entre el RDF 1 y el RDF 2 (r = 0,61, p = 0,0004; r = 0,60, p = 0,0005; r = 0,64, p = 0,0002, respectivamente). Conclusión: el RDF es un método válido en la práctica profesional para la estimación de la ingesta alimentaria, en mayor consonancia con los datos obtenidos con el R24hs, y presenta estabilidad temporal para los registros de VET, proteínas y grasas. Además, colabora en la adquisición de hábitos alimentarios positivos como son las ingestas más conscientes, entre otros beneficios.

Delinquent Medical Records: Who Are the Stakeholders for Timely Medical Documentation?

The explosion of electronic documentation associated with Meaningful Use-certified electronic health record systems has led to a massive increase in provider workload for completion and finalization of patient encounters. Delinquency of required documentation affects multiple areas of hospital operations. We present the major stakeholders affected by delinquency of the electronic medical record and examine the differing perspectives to gain insight for successful engagement to reduce the burden of medical record delinquency.

Assessment of patient safety challenges and electronic occurrence variance reporting (e-OVR) barriers facing physicians and nurses in the emergency department: a cross sectional study.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of patient safety is to prevent harm occurring in the healthcare system. Patient safety is improved by the use of a reporting system in which healthcare workers can document and learn from incidents, and thus prevent potential medical errors. The present study aimed to determine patient safety challenges facing clinicians (physicians and nurses) in emergency medicine and to assess barriers to using e-OVR (electronic occurrence variance reporting). METHODS: This cross-sectional study involved physicians and nurses in the emergency department (ED) at King Khalid University Hospital (KKUH) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. Using convenience sampling, a self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 294 clinicians working in the ED. The questionnaire consisted of items pertaining to patient safety and e-OVR usability. Data were analyzed using frequencies, means, and percentages, and the chi-square test was used for comparison. RESULTS: A total of 197 participants completed the questionnaire (67% response rate) of which 48 were physicians (24%) and 149 nurses (76%). Only 39% of participants thought that there was enough staff to handle work in the ED. Roughly half (48%) of participants spoke up when something negatively affected patient safety, and 61% admitted that they sometimes missed important patient care information during shift changes. Two-thirds (66%) of the participants reported experiencing violence. Regarding e-OVR, 31% of participants found reporting to be time consuming. Most (85%) participants agreed that e-OVR training regarding knowledge and skills was sufficient. Physicians reported lower knowledge levels regarding how to access (46%) and how to use (44%) e-OVR compared to nurses (98 and 95%, respectively; p < 0.01). Less than a quarter of the staff did not receive timely feedback after reporting. Regarding overall satisfaction with e-OVR, only 25% of physicians were generally satisfied compared to nearly half (52%) of nurses. CONCLUSION: Although patient safety is well emphasized in clinical practice, especially in the ED, many factors hinder patient safety. More awareness is needed to eliminate violence and to emphasize the needs of additional staff in the ED. Electronic reporting and documentation of incidents should be well supported by continuous staff training, help, and feedback.

"Languaging" tacit judgment in formal postgraduate assessment: the documentation of ad hoc and summative entrustment decisions.

While subjective judgment is recognized by the health professions education literature as important to assessment, it remains difficult to carve out a formally recognized role in assessment practices for personal experiences, gestalts, and gut feelings. Assessment tends to rely on documentary artefacts-like the forms, standards, and policies brought in under competency-based medical education, for example-to support accountability and fairness. But judgment is often tacit in nature and can be more challenging to surface in explicit (and particularly written) form. What is needed is a nuanced approach to the incorporation of judgment in assessment such that it is neither in danger of being suppressed by an overly rigorous insistence on documentation nor uncritically sanctioned by the defense that it resides in a black box and that we must simply trust the expertise of assessors. The concept of entrustment represents an attempt to effect such a balance within current competency frameworks by surfacing judgments about the degree of supervision learners need to care safely for patients. While there is relatively little published data about its implementation as yet, one readily manifest variation in the uptake of entrustment relates to the distinction between ad hoc and summative forms. The ways in which these forms are languaged, together with their intended purposes and guidelines for their use, point to directions for more focused empirical inquiry that can inform current and future uptake of entrustment in competency-based medical education and the responsible and meaningful inclusion of judgment in assessment more generally.

Improving Immunization Coverage in Special Populations.

This highlights the key recommendations for immunization in the setting of chronic disease, children and adults with special needs, and health care providers. Immunization is an effective strategy to reduce the burden of suffering and cost of care from chronic disease. Standard child and adolescent and adult immunization schedules identify categories of high-risk conditions and chronic diseases. Clinicians need to develop systems to evaluate patients' risk factors and tailor immunization recommendations to their individual needs. Patients with intellectual disabilities, neurologic and neurodevelopmental disorders, and autism are at higher risk for vaccine-preventable illness and face significant health disparities.

Cost of postoperative complications: How to avoid calculation errors.

Postoperative complications (PC) are a basic health outcome, but no surgery service in the world records and/or audits the PC associated with all the surgical procedures it performs. Most studies that have assessed the cost of PC suffer from poor quality and a lack of transparency and consistency. The payment system in place often rewards the volume of services provided rather than the quality of patients' clinical outcomes. Without a thorough registration of PC, the economic costs involved cannot be determined. An accurate, reliable appraisal would help identify areas for investment in order to reduce the incidence of PC, improve surgical results, and bring down the economic costs. This article describes how to quantify and classify PC using the Clavien-Dindo classification and the comprehensive complication index, discusses the perspectives from which economic evaluations are performed and the minimum postoperative follow-up established, and makes various recommendations. The availability of accurate and impartially audited data on PC will help reduce their incidence and bring down costs. Patients, the health authorities, and society as a whole are sure to benefit.

Frequency and Types of Patient-Reported Errors in Electronic Health Record Ambulatory Care Notes.

Importance: As health information transparency increases, patients more often seek their health data. More than 44 million patients in the US can now readily access their ambulatory visit notes online, and the practice is increasing abroad. Few studies have assessed documentation errors that patients identify in their notes and how these may inform patient engagement and safety strategies. Objective: To assess the frequency and types of errors identified by patients who read open ambulatory visit notes. Design, Setting, and Participants: In this survey study, a total of 136 815 patients at 3 US health care organizations with open notes, including 79 academic and community ambulatory care practices, received invitations to an online survey from June 5 to October 20, 2017. Patients who had at least 1 ambulatory note and had logged onto the portal at least once in the past 12 months were included. Data analysis was performed from July 3, 2018, to April 27, 2020. Exposures: Access to ambulatory care open notes through patient portals for up to 7 years (2010-2017). Main Outcomes and Measures: Proportion of patients reporting a mistake and how serious they perceived the mistake to be, factors associated with finding errors characterized by patients as serious, and categories of patient-reported errors. Results: Of 136 815 patients who received survey invitations, 29 656 (21.7%) responded and 22 889 patients (mean [SD] age, 55.16 [15.96] years; 14 447 [63.1%] female; 18 301 [80.0%] white) read 1 or more notes in the past 12 months and completed error questions. Of these patients, 4830 (21.1%) reported a perceived mistake and 2043 (42.3%) reported that the mistake was serious (somewhat serious: 1563 [32.4%]; very serious: 480 [9.9%]). In multivariable analysis, female patients (relative risk [RR], 1.79; 95% CI, 1.72-1.85), more educated patients (RR, 1.38; 95% CI, 1.29-1.48), sicker patients (RR, 1.89; 95% CI, 1.84-1.94), those aged 45 to 64 years (RR, 2.23; 95% CI, 2.06-2.42), those 65 years or older (RR, 2.00; 95% CI, 1.73-2.32), and those who read more than 1 note (2-3 notes: RR, 1.82; 95% CI, 1.34-2.47; ≥4 notes: RR, 3.09; 95% CI, 2.02-4.73) were more likely to report a mistake that they found to be serious compared with their reference groups. After categorization of patient-reported very serious mistakes, those specifically mentioning the word diagnosis or describing a specific error in current or past diagnoses were most common (98 of 356 [27.5%]), followed by inaccurate medical history (85 of 356 [23.9%]), medications or allergies (50 of 356 [14.0%]), and tests, procedures, or results (30 of 356 [8.4%]). A total of 23 (6.5%) reflected notes reportedly written on the wrong patient. Of 433 very serious errors, 255 (58.9%) included at least 1 perceived error potentially associated with the diagnostic process (eg, history, physical examination, tests, referrals, and communication). Conclusions and Relevance: In this study, patients who read ambulatory notes online perceived mistakes, a substantial proportion of which they found to be serious. Older and sicker patients were twice as likely to report a serious error compared with younger and healthier patients, indicating important safety and quality implications. Sharing notes with patients may help engage them to improve record accuracy and health care safety together with practitioners.

Peer Review and Transparency in Evidence-Source Selection in Value and Health Technology Assessment.

OBJECTIVES: Value and health technology assessment (V/HTA) is often used in clinical, access, and reimbursement decisions. V/HTA data-source selection may not be transparent, which is a necessary element for stakeholder understanding and trust and for fostering accountability among decision makers. Peer review is considered one mechanism for judging data trustworthiness. Our objective was (1) to use publicly available documentation of V/HTA methods to identify requirements for inclusion of peer-reviewed evidence sources, (2) to compare and contrast US and non-US approaches, and (3) to assess evidence sources used in published V/HTA reports. METHODS: Publicly available methods documentation from 11 V/HTA organizations in North America and Europe were manually searched and abstracted for descriptions of requirements and recommendations regarding search strategy and evidence-source selection. The bibliographies of a subset of V/HTA reports published in 2018 were manually abstracted for evidence-source types used in each. RESULTS: Heterogeneity in evidence-source retrieval and selection was observed across all V/HTA organizations, with more pronounced differences between US and non-US organizations. Not all documentation of organizations' methods address the evidence-source selection processes (7 of 11), and few explicitly reference peer-reviewed sources (3 of 11). Documentation of the evidence-source selection strategy was inconsistent across reports (6 of 13), and the level of detail provided varied across organizations. Some information on evidence-source selection was often included in confidential documentation and was not publicly available. CONCLUSIONS: Disparities exist among V/HTA organizations in requirements and guidance regarding evidence-source selection. Standardization of evidence-source selection strategies and documentation could help improve V/HTA transparency and has implications for decision making based on report findings.

Prevalence of cerebral palsy and data quality assessment of patient documentation at the Clinics of Semmelweis University / A cerebralis paresis elofordulása és a betegdokumentáció minoségi vizsgálata a Semmelweis Egyetem klinikáin

Introduction, aim: Quality control of patient documentation for cerebral palsy (CP) at Semmelweis University. METHOD: In our retrospective audit, we revised patient records for all children born between 2005 and 2015, with suspected CP, registering 673 cases with confirmed CP. Based on the available patient data, we assessed clinical and etiological classification of CP and data availability. RESULTS: Patient records of 86% of children were suitable for clinical classification. Among them, 90.5% were spastic, 7.8% hypotonic, 1.2% dyskinetic and 0.5% ataxic. Among the classifiable spastic cases (98% of all spastic cases), 51% presented with tetraparetic/tetraplegic, 26% diparetic/diplegic and 23% hemiparetic/hemiplegic localization; in the remaining 2%, sufficient data for topological classification was unavailable. Severity assessed on Gross Motor Function Classification System was definable in 82% of cases, 43% showing grade I-II, 28% grade III and 29% grade IV-V impairment. Patient history was specified in 91% of cases. Prematurity was documented in 55%, perinatal asphyxia/hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy in 31%, intraventricular/intracranial haemorrhage in 27%, multiple births in 19%, intrauterine growth restriction in 18%, intrauterine/perinatal/infancy infection in 15%, congenital malformation in 12%, in vitro fertilisation in 5%, stroke in 3% and CP-associated genetic mutation in 3% of cases. Negative patient history was determined in 16% of children. CONCLUSIONS: Our audit established that clinical documentation of CP is performed based on uniform criteria, detecting missing data primarily in clinical classification and patient history. We propose a patient documentation standard in the clinical care of affected children, which is a prerequisite for unified data recording and a future national CP registry. Orv Hetil. 2020; 161(21): 873-880.

Abortion Reporting in the United States: An Assessment of Three National Fertility Surveys.

Despite its frequency, abortion remains a highly sensitive, stigmatized, and difficult-to-measure behavior. We present estimates of abortion underreporting for three of the most commonly used national fertility surveys in the United States: the National Survey of Family Growth, the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997, and the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. Numbers of abortions reported in each survey were compared with external abortion counts obtained from a census of all U.S. abortion providers, with adjustments for comparable respondent ages and periods of each data source. We examined the influence of survey design factors, including survey mode, sampling frame, and length of recall, on abortion underreporting. We used Monte Carlo simulations to estimate potential measurement biases in relationships between abortion and other variables. Underreporting of abortion in the United States compromises the ability to study abortion-and, consequently, almost any pregnancy-related experience-using national fertility surveys.

Increasing the Rate of Documentation of Security Interventions in the Emergency Department: Big Orange Security Sticker (BOSS) Project.

BACKGROUND: Security interventions in aggressive and violent patients in the emergency department (ED) are not always documented in the clinical record, which can compromise the effectiveness of communication, and increase clinical risks. LOCAL PROBLEM: Fewer than half of all security interventions are documented in the clinical record. METHODS: The study had a pre- and posttest design including a retrospective audit of patient medical records and a staff survey. INTERVENTION: A dedicated sticker, to be completed by nursing and security staff, was placed into the clinical notes as a record of the security intervention. RESULTS: From 1 month before to 1 month after implementation, the rate of documentation of security interventions in clinical notes increased from 43.3% to 68.8% (P = .01), and was maintained for 3 months after implementation. CONCLUSIONS: The rate of documentation of ED security interventions in clinical notes can be increased by encouraging clinicians and security staff to collaborate and share documentation responsibilities.

Evolution of the AMCP Format for Formulary Submissions.

DISCLOSURES: No funding was required for this project. The authors are or have been members of the Format Executive Committee.

Incorporating Medical Student Documentation Into the Billable Encounter: A Pragmatic Approach to Implementation of the 2018 Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Rule Revision.

In early 2018, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services released the Medical Review of Evaluation and Management (E/M) Documentation, which allows supervising teaching physicians to rely on a medical student's documentation to support billing for E/M services. This change has potential to enhance education, clinical documentation quality, and the satisfaction of students, postgraduate trainees, and teaching physicians. However, its practical adoption presents many challenges that must be navigated successfully to realize these important goals in compliance with federal and local requirements, while avoiding unintended downstream problems. Implementation requires careful planning, policy creation, education, and monitoring, all with collaboration between institutional leaders, compliance and information technology professionals, educators, and learners. In this paper, we review the 2018 Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services rule change, address common questions and potential impacts, outline practical workflows to meet the supervision requirement, and discuss steps for successful implementation.

Istanbul Protocol implementation in Central Asia: Bending the arc of the moral universe.

In countries emerging from authoritarian rule, a major challenge is ending often widespread and systematic torture and ill-treatment practices. Between 2011 and 2019, Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), in collaboration with the Open Society Foundation (OSF), the Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI) and regional and local partners, worked to establish effective torture investigation and documentation practices in the Central Asian countries of Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Kazakhstan. Our approach consisted of activities in three sequential phases - (1) assessment, (2) capacity building, and (3) policy reform. In this paper, we briefly describe activities during each phase and identify key lessons learned from these experiences and resulting policy and program reforms as a model for future efforts in other settings.

Improving Billing Accuracy Through Enterprise-Wide Standardized Structured Reporting With Cross-Divisional Shared Templates.

OBJECTIVE: We describe our experience in implementing enterprise-wide standardized structured reporting for chest radiographs (CXRs) via change management strategies and assess the economic impact of structured template adoption. METHODS: Enterprise-wide standardized structured CXR reporting was implemented in a large urban health care enterprise in two phases from September 2016 to March 2019: initial implementation of division-specific structured templates followed by introduction of auto launching cross-divisional consensus structured templates. Usage was tracked over time, and potential radiologist time savings were estimated. Correct-to-bill (CTB) rates were collected between January 2018 and May 2019 for radiography. RESULTS: CXR structured template adoption increased from 46% to 92% in phase 1 and to 96.2% in phase 2, resulting in an estimated 8.5 hours per month of radiologist time saved. CTB rates for both radiographs and all radiology reports showed a linearly increasing trend postintervention with radiography CTB rate showing greater absolute values with an average difference of 20% throughout the sampling period. The CTB rate for all modalities increased by 12%, and the rate for radiography increased by 8%. DISCUSSION: Change management strategies prompted adoption of division-specific structured templates, and exposure via auto launching enforced widespread adoption of consensus templates. Standardized structured reporting resulted in both economic gains and projected radiologist time saved.