Travel distance and outcomes after surgical aortic valve among veterans.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the association between travel distance and postoperative length of stay (LOS) and discharge disposition among veterans undergoing surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR). DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING: We performed a retrospective cohort study of patients undergoing SAVR, with or without coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) at VA Boston Healthcare (January 1, 2005-December 31, 2015). STUDY DESIGN: Postoperative LOS and discharge disposition were compared for SAVR patients based on travel distance to the facility: <100 miles or ≥100 miles. Multivariable regression was performed to ascertain factors associated with LOS and home discharge. DATA COLLECTION/EXTRACTION METHODS: Data were collected via chart review. All patients undergoing SAVR at our institution who primarily resided within the defined region were included. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Of 597 patients studied, 327 patients underwent isolated SAVR; 270 patients underwent SAVR/CABG. Overall median (IQR) distance between the patient's residence and the hospital was 49.95 miles (27.41-129.94 miles); 190 patients (32%) resided further than 100 miles away. There were no differences in the proportion of patients with diabetes, hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cerebrovascular disease, atrial fibrillation, or prior myocardial infarction between groups. Overall LOS (IQR) was 9 (7-13) days and did not differ between groups (p = 0.18). The proportion of patients discharged home was higher among patients who resided more than 100 miles from the hospital (71% vs. 58%, p = 0.01). On multivariable analysis, residing further than 100 miles from the hospital was independently associated with home discharge (OR = 1.64, 95% CI: 1.09-2.48). Travel distance was not associated with LOS. CONCLUSIONS: Based on our institutional experience, potential concerns of longer hospital stay or discharge to other inpatient facilities for geographically distanced patients undergoing SAVR do not appear supported. Continued examination of the drivers underlying the marked shift of veterans to the private sector appears warranted.

Development and Validation of an Electronic Adverse Event Model for Patient Safety Surveillance in Interventional Radiology.

BACKGROUND: Comprehensive adverse event (AE) surveillance programs in interventional radiology (IR) are rare. Our aim was to develop and validate a retrospective electronic surveillance model to identify outpatient IR procedures that are likely to have an AE, to support patient safety and quality improvement. METHODS: We identified outpatient IR procedures performed in the period from October 2017 to September 2019 from the Veterans Health Administration (n = 135,283) and applied electronic triggers based on posyprocedure care to flag cases with a potential AE. From the trigger-flagged cases, we randomly sampled n = 1,500 for chart review to identify AEs. We also randomly sampled n = 600 from the unflagged cases. Chart-reviewed cases were merged with patient, procedure, and facility factors to estimate a mixed-effects logistic regression model designed to predict whether an AE occurred. Using model fit and criterion validity, we determined the best predicted probability threshold to identify cases with a likely AE. We reviewed a random sample of 200 cases above the threshold and 100 cases from below the threshold from October 2019 to March 2020 (n = 20,849) for model validation. RESULTS: In our development sample of mostly trigger-flagged cases, 444 of 2,096 cases (21.8%) had an AE. The optimal predicted probability threshold for a likely AE from our surveillance model was >50%, with positive predictive value of 68.9%, sensitivity of 38.3%, and specificity of 95.3%. In validation, chart-reviewed cases with AE probability >50% had a positive predictive value of 63% (n = 203). For the period from October 2017 to March 2020, the model identified approximately 70 IR cases per month that were likely to have an AE. CONCLUSIONS: This electronic trigger-based approach to AE surveillance could be used for patient-safety reporting and quality review.

Factors associated with uptake of guideline-recommended cardiovascular implantable electronic device management: a nationwide, retrospective cohort study.

Clinical guidelines recommend device removal for cardiovascular implantable electronic device (CIED) infection management. In this retrospective, nationwide cohort, 60.8% of CIED infections received guideline-concordant care. One-year mortality was higher among those without procedural management (25% vs 16%). Factors associated with receipt of device procedures included pocket infections and positive microbiology.

Engaging patients in antimicrobial stewardship: co-designed educational tool to improve periprocedural care through de-implementation of guideline-discordant antimicrobial use.

Effective de-implementation models often include replacement of an ineffective practice with an alternative. We co-developed patient education materials as a replacement strategy for inappropriate post-procedural antibiotics in cardiac device procedures. Lessons learned and developed materials may be used to promote infection prevention in other periprocedural settings.

Growth of community-based immunotherapy treatment in the Veterans Health Administration.

BACKGROUND: The MISSION and CHOICE Acts expanded the Veterans Health Administration's (VA) capacity to purchase immunotherapy services for VA patients from community-based providers. Our objective was to identify predictors of community-based immunotherapy treatment, and assess differences in cost and utilization across community treatment settings METHODS: We examined claims for 21,257 patients who started immunotherapy treatment between 2015 and 2020. We assessed growth in VA community-based immunotherapy care, predictors of community-based immunotherapy treatment using multivariable logistic regression based on patients' sociodemographic and clinical characteristics. We compared utilization and costs among those who received community-based immunotherapy services in hospital outpatient departments (HOPDs) versus physician office settings (POs). RESULTS: The proportion of community-based immunotherapy in the VA increased from 5.3% in 2015 to 32.1% in 2020, with total annual costs of immunotherapy growing from $6.1 million to $187 million. Older, married, and rural patients and those with more comorbidities were more likely than younger, single, or urban patients to be treated in the community. Black patients were more likely to be treated in the VA. Respiratory Cancer was the most common cancer type in both settings. Among community immunotherapy patients, we observed no meaningful differences in the number of units administered, the unit drug costs, or the cost per immunotherapy visit between POs and HOPDs. CONCLUSION: Drug costs did not differ widely across HOPDs and POs among VA patients who receive community-based immunotherapy.

A Novel Informatics Tool to Detect Periprocedural Antibiotic Allergy Adverse Events for Near Real-time Surveillance to Support Audit and Feedback.

Importance: Standardized processes for identifying when allergic-type reactions occur and linking reactions to drug exposures are limited. Objective: To develop an informatics tool to improve detection of antibiotic allergic-type events. Design, Setting, and Participants: This retrospective cohort study was conducted from October 1, 2015, to September 30, 2019, with data analyzed between July 1, 2021, and January 31, 2022. The study was conducted across Veteran Affairs hospitals among patients who underwent cardiovascular implantable electronic device (CIED) procedures and received periprocedural antibiotic prophylaxis. The cohort was split into training and test cohorts, and cases were manually reviewed to determine presence of allergic-type reaction and its severity. Variables potentially indicative of allergic-type reactions were selected a priori and included allergies entered in the Veteran Affair's Allergy Reaction Tracking (ART) system (either historical [reported] or observed), allergy diagnosis codes, medications administered to treat allergic reactions, and text searches of clinical notes for keywords and phrases indicative of a potential allergic-type reaction. A model to detect allergic-type reaction events was iteratively developed on the training cohort and then applied to the test cohort. Algorithm test characteristics were assessed. Exposure: Preprocedural and postprocedural prophylactic antibiotic administration. Main Outcomes and Measures: Antibiotic allergic-type reactions. Results: The cohort of 36 344 patients included 34 703 CIED procedures with antibiotic exposures (mean [SD] age, 72 [10] years; 34 008 [98%] male patients); median duration of postprocedural prophylaxis was 4 days (IQR, 2-7 days; maximum, 45 days). The final algorithm included 7 variables: entries in the Veteran Affair's hospitals ART, either historic (odds ratio [OR], 42.37; 95% CI, 11.33-158.43) or observed (OR, 175.10; 95% CI, 44.84-683.76); PheCodes for "symptoms affecting skin" (OR, 8.49; 95% CI, 1.90-37.82), "urticaria" (OR, 7.01; 95% CI, 1.76-27.89), and "allergy or adverse event to an antibiotic" (OR, 11.84, 95% CI, 2.88-48.69); keyword detection in clinical notes (OR, 3.21; 95% CI, 1.27-8.08); and antihistamine administration alone or in combination (OR, 6.51; 95% CI, 1.90-22.30). In the final model, antibiotic allergic-type reactions were identified with an estimated probability of 30% or more; positive predictive value was 61% (95% CI, 45%-76%); and sensitivity was 87% (95% CI, 70%-96%). Conclusions and Relevance: In this retrospective cohort study of patients receiving periprocedural antibiotic prophylaxis, an algorithm with a high sensitivity to detect incident antibiotic allergic-type reactions that can be used to provide clinician feedback about antibiotic harms from unnecessarily prolonged antibiotic exposures was developed.

Association Between Preoperative Diabetes Control and Postoperative Adverse Events Among Veterans Health Administration Patients With Diabetes Who Underwent Elective Ambulatory Hernia Surgery.

This cohort study examines the association between same-day preoperative glycemic control and postoperative adverse events among patients with diabetes undergoing ambulatory hernia surgery.

Development of a Periprocedure Trigger for Outpatient Interventional Radiology Procedures in the Veterans Health Administration.

OBJECTIVES: Interventional radiology (IR) is the newest medical specialty. However, it lacks robust quality assurance metrics, including adverse event (AE) surveillance tools. Considering the high frequency of outpatient care provided by IR, automated electronic triggers offer a potential catalyst to support accurate retrospective AE detection. METHODS: We programmed previously validated AE triggers (admission, emergency visit, or death up to 14 days after procedure) for elective, outpatient IR procedures performed in Veterans Health Administration surgical facilities between fiscal years 2017 and 2019. We then developed a text-based algorithm to detect AEs that explicitly occurred in the periprocedure time frame: before, during, and shortly after the IR procedure. Guided by the literature and clinical expertise, we generated clinical note keywords and text strings to flag cases with high potential for periprocedure AEs. Flagged cases underwent targeted chart review to measure criterion validity (i.e., the positive predictive value), to confirm AE occurrence, and to characterize the event. RESULTS: Among 135,285 elective outpatient IR procedures, the periprocedure algorithm flagged 245 cases (0.18%); 138 of these had ≥1 AE, yielding a positive predictive value of 56% (95% confidence interval, 50%-62%). The previously developed triggers for admission, emergency visit, or death in 14 days flagged 119 of the 138 procedures with AEs (73%). Among the 43 AEs detected exclusively by the periprocedure trigger were allergic reactions, adverse drug events, ischemic events, bleeding events requiring blood transfusions, and cardiac arrest requiring cardiopulmonary resuscitation. CONCLUSIONS: The periprocedure trigger performed well on IR outpatient procedures and offers a complement to other electronic triggers developed for outpatient AE surveillance.

Arteriovenous Graft Failure in the Veterans Health Administration: Outcome Disparities Associated with Race.

Background Vascular access for ongoing hemodialysis often fails, frequently requiring repeated procedures to maintain vascular patency. While research has shown racial discrepancies in multiple aspects of renal failure treatment, there is poor understanding of how these factors might relate to vascular access maintenance procedures after arteriovenous graft (AVG) placement. Purpose To evaluate racial disparities associated with premature vascular access failure after percutaneous access maintenance procedures following AVG placement using a retrospective national cohort from the Veterans Health Administration (VHA). Materials and Methods All hemodialysis vascular maintenance procedures performed at VHA hospitals between October 2016 and March 2020 were identified. To ensure the sample represented patients who consistently used the VHA, patients without AVG placement within 5 years of their first maintenance procedure were excluded. Access failure was defined as a repeat access maintenance procedure or as hemodialysis catheter placement occurring 1-30 days after the index procedure. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed to calculate prevalence ratios (PRs) measuring the association between hemodialysis maintenance failure and African American race compared with all other races. Models controlled for vascular access history, patient socioeconomic status, and procedure and facility characteristics. Results In total, 1950 access maintenance procedures in 995 patients (mean age, 69 years ± 9 [SD], 1870 men) with an AVG created in one of 61 VHA facilities were identified. Most procedures involved African American patients (1169 of 1950, 60%) and patients residing in the South (1002 of 1950, 51%). Premature access failure occurred in 215 of 1950 (11%) procedures. When compared with all other races, African American race was associated with premature access site failure (PR, 1.4; 95% CI: 1.07, 1.43; P = .02). Among the 1057 procedures in 30 facilities with interventional radiology resident training programs, there was no evidence of racial disparity in the outcome (PR, 1.1; P = .63). Conclusion African American race was associated with higher risk-adjusted rates of premature arteriovenous graft failure after dialysis maintenance. © RSNA, 2023 Supplemental material is available for this article. See also the editorial by Forman and Davis in this issue.

What is the role of selection bias in quality comparisons between the Veterans Health Administration and community care? Example of elective hernia surgery.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between community care (CC) treatment and a postoperative surgical complication in elective hernia surgery among Veterans using multiple approaches to control for potential selection bias. DATA SOURCES AND STUDY SETTING: Veterans Health Administration (VHA) data sources included Corporate Data Warehouse (VHA encounters and patient data), the Program Integrity Tool and Fee tables (CC encounters), the Planning Systems Support Group (geographic information), and the Paid file (VHA primary care providers). STUDY DESIGN: Prior works suggest patient outcomes are better in VHA than in CC settings; however, these studies may not have appropriately accounted for the selection of higher-risk cases into CC. We estimated (1) a naïve logistic regression model to calculate the effect of CC setting on the probability of a complication, controlling for facility fixed effects and patient and procedure characteristics, and (2) a 2-stage model using the hernia patient's primary care provider's 1-year prior CC referral rate as the instrument. DATA COLLECTION: We identified patients residing ≤40 miles from a VHA surgical facility with elective VHA or CC hernia surgery from 2018 to 2019. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Of 7991 hernia surgeries, 772 (9.7%) were in CC. The overall complication rate was 4.2%; 286/7219 (4.0%) among VHA surgeries versus 51/5772 (6.6%, p < 0.05) in CC. We observed a 2.8 percentage point increase in the probability of postoperative complication given CC surgery (95% confidence interval: 0.7, 4.8) in the naïve model. After accounting for the VHA provider's historical rate of CC referral, we no longer observed a relationship between surgery setting and risk of postoperative complication. CONCLUSIONS: After accounting for the selection of higher-risk patients to CC settings, we found no difference in hernia surgery postoperative complications between CC and VHA. Future VHA and non-VHA comparisons should account for unobserved as well as observed differences in patients seen in each setting.

Does screening for PTSD lead to VA mental health care? Identifying the spectrum of initial VA screening actions.

Despite the active posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) screening program in Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) primary care clinics and the availability of empirically supported treatments for PTSD at VA, many veterans for whom screening suggests treatment may be indicated do not gain access to VA-based mental health care. To determine where we may be losing veterans to follow-up, we need to begin by identifying the initial action taken in response to a positive PTSD screen in primary care. Using VA administrative data and chart review, we identified the spectrum of initial actions taken after veterans screened positive for PTSD in VA primary care clinics nationwide between October 2017 and September 2018 (N = 41,570). We collapsed actions into those that could lead to VA-based mental health care (e.g., consult placed to a VA mental health clinic) versus not (e.g., veteran declined care), and then examined the association between these categories of actions and contextual- and individual-level variables. More than 61% of veterans with positive PTSD screens had evidence that an initial action toward VA-based mental health care was taken. Urban-dwelling and female veterans were significantly more likely to have evidence of these initial actions, whereas White and Vietnam-era veterans were significantly less likely to have this evidence. Our findings suggest that most veterans screening positive for PTSD in VA primary care clinics have evidence of initial actions taken toward VA-based mental health care; however, a substantial minority do not, making them unlikely to receive follow-up care. Findings highlight the potential benefit of targeted primary care-based access interventions. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved).

Prevalence of One-Year Mortality after Implantable Cardioverter Defibrillator Placement: An Opportunity for Palliative Care?

Background: Current guidelines recommend against placement of implantable cardioverter defibrillators in patients with a life expectancy less than one year. These patients may benefit from early palliative care services; however, identifying this population is challenging. Objective: Determine whether a validated prognostic tool, based on patient factors and health care utilization from electronic medical records, accurately predicts one-year mortality at the time of implantable cardioverter defibrillator placement. Design: We used the United States (U.S.) Veterans Administration's "Care Assessment Needs" one-Year Mortality Score to identify patients at high risk of mortality (score ≥95) before their procedure. Data were extracted from the Corporate Data Warehouse. Logistic regression was used to assess the odds of mortality at different score levels. Setting/Subjects: Patients undergoing a new implantable cardioverter defibrillator procedure between October 1, 2015 and September 30, 2017 in the U.S. Veterans Administration. Results: Of 3194 patients with a new implantable cardioverter defibrillator placed, 657 (21.8%) had a score ≥95. The mortality rate among these patients was 151/657 (22.9%) compared with 281/3194 (8.8%) for all patients undergoing a new implantable cardioverter defibrillator procedure. Patients with a score ≥95 had 14.0 (95% confidence interval 8.0-24.4) higher odds of death within one year of the procedure compared with those with a score ≤60. Conclusions: The "Care Assessment Needs" Score is a valid predictor of one-year mortality following implantable cardioverter defibrillator procedures. Integrating its use into the management of Veterans Administration (VA) patients considering implantable cardioverter defibrillators may improve shared decision making and engagement with palliative care.

Assessing the sustainability of compliance with surgical site infection prophylaxis after discontinuation of mandatory active reporting: study protocol.

BACKGROUND: Surgical site infections are common. Risk can be reduced substantially with appropriate preoperative antimicrobial administration. In 2005, the VA implemented the Surgical Care Improvement Project (SCIP) in the setting of high rates of non-compliance with antimicrobial prophylaxis guidelines. SCIP included public reporting of evidenced-based antimicrobial guideline compliance metrics in high-risk surgeries. SCIP was highly successful and led to high rates of adoption of preoperative antimicrobials and early discontinuation of postoperative antimicrobials (>95%). The program was retired in 2015, as the manual measurement and reporting process was costly with limited expected additional benefit. To our knowledge, no studies have assessed whether the gains achieved by SCIP were sustained since active support for the program was discontinued. Furthermore, there has been no investigation of the spread of antimicrobial prophylaxis guideline adoption beyond the limited set of procedures that were included in the program. METHODS: Using a mixed methods sequential exploratory approach, this study will (1) quantitatively measure compliance with SCIP metrics over time and across all procedures in the five major surgical specialties targeted by SCIP and (2) collect qualitative data from stakeholders to identify strategies that were effective for sustaining compliance. Diffusion of Innovation Theory will guide assessment of whether improvements achieved spread to procedures not included under the umbrella of the program. Electronic algorithms to measure SCIP antimicrobial use will be adapted from previously developed methodology. These highly novel data mining algorithms leverage the rich VA electronic health record and capture structured and text data and represent a substantial technological advancement over resource-intensive manual chart review or incomplete electronic surveillance based on pharmacy data. An interrupted time series analysis will be used to assess whether SCIP compliance was sustained following program discontinuation. Generalized linear models will be used to assess whether compliance with appropriate prophylaxis increased in all SCIP targeted and non-targeted procedures by specialty over the duration the program's active reporting. The Dynamic Sustainability Framework will guide the qualitative methods to assess intervention, provider, facility, specialty, and contextual factors associated with sustainability over time. Barriers and facilitators to sustainability will be mapped to implementation strategies and the study will yield an implementation playbook to guide future sustainment efforts. RELEVANCE: Sustainability of practice change has been described as one of the most important, but least studied areas of clinical medicine. Learning how practices spread is also a critically important area of investigation. This study will use novel informatics strategies to evaluate factors associated with sustainability following removal of active policy surveillance and advance our understanding about these important, yet understudied, areas.

Promoting de-implementation of inappropriate antimicrobial use in cardiac device procedures by expanding audit and feedback: protocol for hybrid III type effectiveness/implementation quasi-experimental study.

BACKGROUND: Despite a strong evidence base and clinical guidelines specifically recommending against prolonged post-procedural antimicrobial use, studies indicate that the practice is common following cardiac device procedures. Formative evaluations conducted by the study team suggest that inappropriate antimicrobial use may be driven by information silos that drive provider belief that antimicrobials are not harmful, in part due to lack of complete feedback about all types of clinical outcomes. De-implementation is recognized as an important area of research that can lead to reductions in unnecessary, wasteful, or harmful practices, such as excess antimicrobial use following cardiac device procedures; however, investigations into strategies that lead to successful de-implementation are limited. The overarching hypothesis to be tested in this trial is that a bundle of implementation strategies that includes audit and feedback about direct patient harms caused by inappropriate prescribing can lead to successful de-implementation of guideline-discordant care. METHODS: We propose a hybrid type III effectiveness-implementation stepped-wedge intervention trial at three high-volume, high-complexity VA medical centers. The main study intervention (an informatics-based, real-time audit-and-feedback tool) was developed based on learning/unlearning theory and formative evaluations and guided by the integrated-Promoting Action on Research Implementation in Health Services (i-PARIHS) Framework. Elements of the bundled and multifaceted implementation strategy to promote appropriate prescribing will include audit-and-feedback reports that include information about antibiotic harms, stakeholder engagement, patient and provider education, identification of local champions, and blended facilitation. The primary study outcome is adoption of evidence-based practice (de-implementation of inappropriate antimicrobial use). Clinical outcomes (cardiac device infections, acute kidney injuries and Clostridioides difficile infections) are secondary. Qualitative interviews will assess relevant implementation outcomes (acceptability, adoption, fidelity, feasibility). DISCUSSION: De-implementation theory suggests that factors that may have a particularly strong influence on de-implementation include strength of the underlying evidence, the complexity of the intervention, and patient and provider anxiety and fear about changing an established practice. This study will assess whether a multifaceted intervention mapped to identified de-implementation barriers leads to measurable improvements in provision of guideline-concordant antimicrobial use. Findings will improve understanding about factors that impact successful or unsuccessful de-implementation of harmful or wasteful healthcare practices. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05020418.

Association Between Diabetic Foot Infection Wound Culture Positivity and 1-Year Admission for Invasive Infection: A Multicenter Cohort Study.

Inpatients with culture-positive diabetic foot infections are at elevated risk for subsequent invasive infection with the same causative organism. In outpatients with index diabetic foot ulcers, we found that wound culture positivity was independently associated with increased odds of 1-year admission for systemic infection when compared with culture-negative wounds.

Comparing total medical expenditure between patients receiving direct oral anticoagulants vs warfarin for the treatment of atrial fibrillation: evidence from VA-Medicare dual enrollees.

BACKGROUND: Direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) are an alternative to warfarin for treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF). Evidence demonstrating the efficacy and safety of DOACs has primarily been from clinical trial settings. The real-world effectiveness of DOACs in specific nontrial populations that differ in age, comorbidity burden, and socioeconomic status is unclear. OBJECTIVE: To compare total downstream medical expenditure between AF patients treated with warfarin and DOACs dually enrolled in the Veterans Affairs (VA) Healthcare System and fee-for-service Medicare. METHODS: This was an exploratory treatment effectiveness study that analyzed VA administrative data and Medicare claims. We examined patients with an incident diagnosis for AF and initiated warfarin or DOAC treatment between 2012 and 2015. The primary outcome was total medical expenditure over 3 years following treatment initiation. To address potential informative censoring, we applied a multipart estimator that extends traditional 2-part models to separate differences between groups due to survival and cost accumulation effects. Inverse probability weighting was applied to address potential treatment selection bias. RESULTS: We identified 31,276 and 17,021 patients receiving warfarin and DOACs, respectively. Mean unadjusted (SD) expenditure was higher for warfarin ($56,265 [$96,666]) compared with DOAC patients ($32,736 [$52,470]). Compared with patients receiving DOACs, adjusted 3-year expenditure was $25,688 (P < 0.001) higher for patients receiving warfarin. CONCLUSIONS: VA patients with AF initiating warfarin incurred markedly higher downstream expenditure compared with similar patients receiving DOACs. The benefits of DOACs found in previous clinical trials were present in this population, suggesting that these DOACs may be the preferred option for treatment of AF in older VA patients. DISCLOSURES: This study was funded by a VA Health Services Research and Development Investigator Initiated Research Award (IIR 15-139). Support for VA/CMS data was provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs, Veterans Health Administration, Office of Research and Development, Health Services Research and Development, VA Information Resource Center (Project Numbers SDR 02-237 and 98-004). The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. The views expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the position or policy of the Department of Veterans Affairs, the University of Washington, Northeastern University, and Boston University. The authors declare no conflicts of interest. This research includes data obtained from the VHA Office of Performance Measurement (17API2), which resides within the Office of Analytics and Performance Integration (API), under the Office of Quality and Patient Safety (QPS; formerly known as RAPID). An oral presentation documenting a subset of the findings from this study was presented at the 2020 AcademyHealth Annual Research Meeting, delivered virtually on July 29, 2020.

Identifying Risks and Opportunities in Outpatient Surgical Patient Safety: A Qualitative Analysis of Veterans Health Administration Staff Perceptions.

OBJECTIVES: Little is known about patient safety risks in outpatient surgery. Inpatient surgical adverse events (AEs) risk factors include patient- (e.g., advanced age), process- (e.g., inadequate preoperative assessment), or structure-related characteristics (e.g., low surgical volume); however, these factors may differ from outpatient care where surgeries are often elective and in younger/healthier patients. We undertook an exploratory qualitative research project to identify risk factors for AEs in outpatient surgery. METHODS: We developed a conceptual framework of patient, process, and structure factors associated with surgical AEs on the basis of a literature review. This framework informed our semistructured interview guide with (1) open-ended questions about a specific outpatient AE that the participant experienced and (2) outpatient surgical patient safety risk factors in general. We interviewed nationwide Veterans Health Administration surgical staff. Results were coded on the basis of categories in the conceptual framework, and additional themes were identified using content analysis. RESULTS: Fourteen providers representing diverse surgical roles participated. Ten reported witnessing an AE, and everyone provided input on risk factors in our conceptual framework. We did not find evidence that patient race/age, surgical technique, or surgical volume affected patient safety. Emerging factors included patient compliance, postoperative patient assessments/instruction, operating room equipment needs, and safety culture. CONCLUSIONS: Surgical staff are familiar with AEs and patient safety problems in outpatient surgery. Our results show that processes of care undertaken by surgical providers, as opposed to immutable patient characteristics, may affect the occurrence of AEs. The factors we identified may facilitate more targeted research on outpatient surgical AEs.

Veterans Perceptions of Satisfaction and Convenience with Anticoagulants for Atrial Fibrillation: Warfarin versus Direct Oral Anticoagulants.

BACKGROUND: Atrial fibrillation (AFib) is associated with high morbidity and mortality. Traditionally, AFib was treated with warfarin, yet recent evidence suggests patients may favor direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs). Variation in preferences is common and we explored patients' perceptions of satisfaction and convenience of DOACs versus warfarin within the Veterans Health Administration (VA). PATIENTS AND METHODS: We administered a cross-sectional survey, the Perception of Anticoagulant Treatment Questionnaire 2 (PACT-Q2), to Veterans residing in New England, age ≥65, diagnosed with AFib, and actively taking anticoagulant medication in fiscal year 2018. Survey recipients were randomly selected among patients on warfarin (n=200) or DOACs (n=200). A selection of survey respondents agreed to a follow-up semi-structured interview (n=16) to further investigate perceptions of satisfaction and convenience. RESULTS: Of 400 patients, 187 completed the PACT-Q2 survey (49% on DOACs; 51% on warfarin). DOACs received significantly higher convenience ratings than warfarin (87.6, SD 13.5 vs 81.1, SD 18.8; p=0.007); there was no difference in satisfaction (64.2, SD 20.5 SD, warfarin vs, 67.3, SD 19.4, DOACs). Interview results showed that participants perceived their treatment to be convenient. However, participants expressed challenges related to the convenience of taking warfarin or DOACs, such as warfarin users having to follow dietary recommendations or DOAC users desiring some additional monitoring to answer questions or concerns. Overall, warfarin and DOAC users reported satisfaction with ongoing monitoring methods, although a few DOAC users expressed uncertainties with the frequency of monitoring. For most participants, concerns about side effects did not differ by anticoagulant type nor affect satisfaction. CONCLUSION: Our survey and interview results showed variable patient satisfaction and perceptions of convenience with both DOACs and warfarin. Although DOACs are increasingly prescribed for AFib, some Veterans felt that regular follow-up on warfarin was advantageous. Our findings demonstrate the importance of patient-centered decision-making in AFib treatment in the VA patient population.

Novel Method to Flag Cardiac Implantable Device Infections by Integrating Text Mining With Structured Data in the Veterans Health Administration's Electronic Medical Record.

Importance: Health care-associated infections (HAIs) are preventable, harmful, and costly; however, few resources are dedicated to infection surveillance of nonsurgical procedures, particularly cardiovascular implantable electronic device (CIED) procedures. Objective: To develop a method that includes text mining of electronic clinical notes to reliably and efficiently measure HAIs for CIED procedures. Design, Setting, and Participants: In this multicenter, national cohort study using electronic medical record data for patients undergoing CIED procedures in Veterans Health Administration (VA) facilities for fiscal years (FYs) 2016 and 2017, an algorithm to flag cases with a true CIED-related infection based on structured (eg, microbiology orders, vital signs) and free text diagnostic and therapeutic data (eg, procedure notes, discharge summaries, microbiology results) was developed and validated. Procedure data were divided into development and validation data sets. Criterion validity (ie, positive predictive validity [PPV], sensitivity, and specificity) was assessed via criterion-standard manual medical record review. Exposures: CIED procedure. Main Outcomes and Measures: The concordance between medical record review and the study algorithm with respect to the presence or absence of a CIED infection. CIED infection in the algorithm included 90-day mortality, congestive heart failure and nonmetastatic tumor comorbidities, CIED or surgical site infection International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, Tenth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-10-CM) diagnosis codes, antibiotic treatment of Staphylococci, a microbiology test of a cardiac specimen, and text documentation of infection in specific clinical notes (eg, cardiology, infectious diseases, inpatient discharge summaries). Results: The algorithm sample consisted of 19 212 CIED procedures; 15 077 patients (78.5%) were White individuals, 1487 (15.5%) were African American; 18 766 (97.7%) were men. The mean (SD) age in our sample was 71.8 (10.6) years. The infection detection threshold of predicted probability was set to greater than 0.10 and the algorithm flagged 276 of 9606 (2.9%) cases in the development data set (9606 procedures); PPV in this group was 41.4% (95% CI, 31.6%-51.8%). In the validation set (9606 procedures), at predicted probability 0.10 or more the algorithm PPV was 43.5% (95% CI, 37.1%-50.2%), and overall sensitivity and specificity were 94.4% (95% CI, 88.2%-97.9%) and 48.8% (95% CI, 42.6%-55.1%), respectively. Conclusions and Relevance: The findings of this study suggest that the method of combining structured and text data in VA electronic medical records can be used to expand infection surveillance beyond traditional boundaries to include outpatient and procedural areas.

Development and Validation of a Semi-Automated Surveillance Algorithm for Cardiac Device Infections: Insights from the VA CART program.

Procedure-related cardiac electronic implantable device (CIED) infections have high morbidity and mortality, highlighting the urgent need for infection prevention efforts to include electrophysiology procedures. We developed and validated a semi-automated algorithm based on structured electronic health records data to reliably identify CIED infections. A sample of CIED procedures entered into the Veterans' Health Administration Clinical Assessment Reporting and Tracking program from FY 2008-2015 was reviewed for the presence of CIED infection. This sample was then randomly divided into training (2/3) validation sets (1/3). The training set was used to develop a detection algorithm containing structured variables mapped from the clinical pathways of CIED infection. Performance of this algorithm was evaluated using the validation set. 2,107 unique CIED procedures from a cohort of 5,753 underwent manual review; 97 CIED infections (4.6%) were identified. Variables strongly associated with true infections included presence of a microbiology order, billing codes for surgical site infections and post-procedural antibiotic prescriptions. The combined algorithm to detect infection demonstrated high c-statistic (0.95; 95% confidence interval: 0.92-0.98), sensitivity (87.9%) and specificity (90.3%) in the validation data. Structured variables derived from clinical pathways can guide development of a semi-automated detection tool to surveil for CIED infection.