Patient experiences with full electronic access to health records and clinical notes through the My HealtheVet Personal Health Record Pilot: qualitative study.

BACKGROUND: Full sharing of the electronic health record with patients has been identified as an important opportunity to engage patients in their health and health care. The My HealtheVet Pilot, the initial personal health record of the US Department of Veterans Affairs, allowed patients and their delegates to view and download content in their electronic health record, including clinical notes, laboratory tests, and imaging reports. OBJECTIVE: A qualitative study with purposeful sampling sought to examine patients' views and experiences with reading their health records, including their clinical notes, online. METHODS: Five focus group sessions were conducted with patients and family members who enrolled in the My HealtheVet Pilot at the Portland Veterans Administration Medical Center, Oregon. A total of 30 patients enrolled in the My HealtheVet Pilot, and 6 family members who had accessed and viewed their electronic health records participated in the sessions. RESULTS: Four themes characterized patient experiences with reading the full complement of their health information. Patients felt that seeing their records positively affected communication with providers and the health system, enhanced knowledge of their health and improved self-care, and allowed for greater participation in the quality of their care such as follow-up of abnormal test results or decision-making on when to seek care. While some patients felt that seeing previously undisclosed information, derogatory language, or inconsistencies in their notes caused challenges, they overwhelmingly felt that having more, rather than less, of their health record information provided benefits. CONCLUSIONS: Patients and their delegates had predominantly positive experiences with health record transparency and the open sharing of notes and test results. Viewing their records appears to empower patients and enhance their contributions to care, calling into question common provider concerns about the effect of full record access on patient well-being. While shared records may or may not impact overall clinic workload, it is likely to change providers' work, necessitating new types of skills to communicate and partner with patients.

Development and evaluation of a comprehensive clinical decision support taxonomy: comparison of front-end tools in commercial and internally developed electronic health record systems.

BACKGROUND: Clinical decision support (CDS) is a valuable tool for improving healthcare quality and lowering costs. However, there is no comprehensive taxonomy of types of CDS and there has been limited research on the availability of various CDS tools across current electronic health record (EHR) systems. OBJECTIVE: To develop and validate a taxonomy of front-end CDS tools and to assess support for these tools in major commercial and internally developed EHRs. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS: We used a modified Delphi approach with a panel of 11 decision support experts to develop a taxonomy of 53 front-end CDS tools. Based on this taxonomy, a survey on CDS tools was sent to a purposive sample of commercial EHR vendors (n=9) and leading healthcare institutions with internally developed state-of-the-art EHRs (n=4). RESULTS: Responses were received from all healthcare institutions and 7 of 9 EHR vendors (response rate: 85%). All 53 types of CDS tools identified in the taxonomy were found in at least one surveyed EHR system, but only 8 functions were present in all EHRs. Medication dosing support and order facilitators were the most commonly available classes of decision support, while expert systems (eg, diagnostic decision support, ventilator management suggestions) were the least common. CONCLUSION: We developed and validated a comprehensive taxonomy of front-end CDS tools. A subsequent survey of commercial EHR vendors and leading healthcare institutions revealed a small core set of common CDS tools, but identified significant variability in the remainder of clinical decision support content.

Comparison of clinical knowledge management capabilities of commercially-available and leading internally-developed electronic health records.

BACKGROUND: We have carried out an extensive qualitative research program focused on the barriers and facilitators to successful adoption and use of various features of advanced, state-of-the-art electronic health records (EHRs) within large, academic, teaching facilities with long-standing EHR research and development programs. We have recently begun investigating smaller, community hospitals and out-patient clinics that rely on commercially-available EHRs. We sought to assess whether the current generation of commercially-available EHRs are capable of providing the clinical knowledge management features, functions, tools, and techniques required to deliver and maintain the clinical decision support (CDS) interventions required to support the recently defined "meaningful use" criteria. METHODS: We developed and fielded a 17-question survey to representatives from nine commercially available EHR vendors and four leading internally developed EHRs. The first part of the survey asked basic questions about the vendor's EHR. The second part asked specifically about the CDS-related system tools and capabilities that each vendor provides. The final section asked about clinical content. RESULTS: All of the vendors and institutions have multiple modules capable of providing clinical decision support interventions to clinicians. The majority of the systems were capable of performing almost all of the key knowledge management functions we identified. CONCLUSION: If these well-designed commercially-available systems are coupled with the other key socio-technical concepts required for safe and effective EHR implementation and use, and organizations have access to implementable clinical knowledge, we expect that the transformation of the healthcare enterprise that so many have predicted, is achievable using commercially-available, state-of-the-art EHRs.

Governance for clinical decision support: case studies and recommended practices from leading institutions.

OBJECTIVE: Clinical decision support (CDS) is a powerful tool for improving healthcare quality and ensuring patient safety; however, effective implementation of CDS requires effective clinical and technical governance structures. The authors sought to determine the range and variety of these governance structures and identify a set of recommended practices through observational study. DESIGN: Three site visits were conducted at institutions across the USA to learn about CDS capabilities and processes from clinical, technical, and organizational perspectives. Based on the results of these visits, written questionnaires were sent to the three institutions visited and two additional sites. Together, these five organizations encompass a variety of academic and community hospitals as well as small and large ambulatory practices. These organizations use both commercially available and internally developed clinical information systems. MEASUREMENTS: Characteristics of clinical information systems and CDS systems used at each site as well as governance structures and content management approaches were identified through extensive field interviews and follow-up surveys. RESULTS: Six recommended practices were identified in the area of governance, and four were identified in the area of content management. Key similarities and differences between the organizations studied were also highlighted. CONCLUSION: Each of the five sites studied contributed to the recommended practices presented in this paper for CDS governance. Since these strategies appear to be useful at a diverse range of institutions, they should be considered by any future implementers of decision support.

Evaluating clinical decision support systems: monitoring CPOE order check override rates in the Department of Veterans Affairs' Computerized Patient Record System.

OBJECTIVE: To measure critical order check override rates in VA Puget Sound Health Care System's computerized practitioner order entry (CPOE) system and to compare 2006 results to a similar 2001 study. DESIGN: Analysis of ordering and order check data gathered by a post-hoc logging program. Use of Pearson's chi-square contingency table test comparing results from this study and the earlier study. MEASUREMENTS: Factors measured were total number of orders, frequency of order check types, frequency of order check overrides by order check type and comparisons of these results with previous results. RESULTS: A total of 37,040 orders generated 908 (2.5%) critical order checks. Drug-drug critical alert override rate was 74/85 (87%) in 2006 compared to 95/108 (88%) in 2001 (X ( 2 )=0.04, df=1, p=0.85). The drug-allergy override rate was 341/420 (81%) compared to 72/105 (69%) in 2001 (X ( 2 )=7.97, df=1, p=0.005). In 2001, 0.25% (105/42,621) orders generated a drug-allergy order check compared to 1.13% (420/37,040) in 2006 (X ( 2 )=238.45, df=1, p<0.0001). CONCLUSION: Override rates of critical drug-drug and drug-allergy order checks remain high at VA Puget Sound Health Care System including significant increases in drug-allergy order checks. We recommend that monitoring override rates be regular practice in clinical computing systems and conclude that qualitative research should be carried out to better understand how physicians interact with decision support at the point of ordering.

Reasons provided by prescribers when overriding drug-drug interaction alerts.

OBJECTIVES: To investigate prescribers' rationales for overriding drug-drug interaction (DDI) alerts and to determine whether these reasons were helpful to pharmacists as a part of prescription order verification. STUDY DESIGN: An observational retrospective database analysis was conducted using override reasons derived from a computerized system at 6 Veterans Affairs medical centers. METHODS: Data on DDI alerts (for interactions designated as "critical" and "significant") were obtained from ambulatory care pharmacy records from July 1, 2003, to June 30, 2004. Prescribers' reasons for overriding alerts were organized into 14 categories and were then rated as clinically useful or not to the pharmacist in the assessment of potential patient harm. RESULTS: Of 291,890 overrides identified, 72% were for critical DDIs. Across the Veterans Affairs medical centers, only 20% of the override reasons for critical DDI alerts were rated as clinically useful for order verification. Despite a mandatory override reason for critical DDI alerts, 53% of the responses were "no reason provided." The top response categories for critical and significant DDI alerts were "no reason provided," "patient has been taking combination," and "patient being monitored." CONCLUSIONS: When given the opportunity to provide a reason for overriding a DDI alert, prescribers rarely enter clinical justifications that are useful to order verification pharmacists. This brings into question how computerized physician order entry systems should be designed.

Practitioners' views on computerized drug-drug interaction alerts in the VA system.

OBJECTIVES: To assess Veterans Affairs (VA) prescribers' and pharmacists' opinions about computer-generated drug-drug interaction (DDI) alerts and obtain suggestions for improving DDI alerts. DESIGN: A mail survey of 725 prescribers and 142 pharmacists from seven VA medical centers across the United States. MEASUREMENTS: A questionnaire asked respondents about their sources of drug and DDI information, satisfaction with the combined inpatient and outpatient computerized prescriber order entry (CPOE) system, attitude toward DDI alerts, and suggestions for improving DDI alerts. RESULTS: The overall response rate was 40% (prescribers: 36%; pharmacists: 59%). Both prescribers and pharmacists indicated that the CPOE system had a neutral to positive impact on their jobs. DDI alerts were not viewed as a waste of time and the majority (61%) of prescribers felt that DDI alerts had increased their potential to prescribe safely. However, only 30% of prescribers felt DDI alerts provided them with what they needed most of the time. Both prescribers and pharmacists agreed that DDI alerts should be accompanied by management alternatives (73% and 82%, respectively) and more detailed information (65% and 89%, respectively). When asked about suggestions for improving DDI alerts, prescribers most preferred including management options whereas pharmacists most preferred making it more difficult to override lethal interactions. Prescribers and pharmacists reported primarily relying on electronic references for general drug information (62% and 55%, respectively) and DDI information (51% and 79%, respectively). CONCLUSION: Respondents reported neutral to positive views regarding the effect of CPOE on their jobs. Their opinions suggest DDI alerts are useful but still require additional work to increase their clinical utility.

Telemedicine for delivery of health care in Parkinson's disease.

We have used telemedicine at the Seattle Veterans Administration Medical Center to deliver follow-up care to patients with Parkinson's disease (PD). Patients were located at eight facilities which were 67-2400 km from the medical centre. Each facility had videoconferencing equipment (connected by Internet Protocol at 384 kbit/s), and computer terminals that could access the patient's electronic medical record. Over a three-year period, we used telemedicine for 100 follow-up visits on 34 PD patients. Visits lasted 30-60 min. Patients and providers were satisfied with the use of the technology. Savings amounted to approximately 1500 attendant travel hours, 100,000 travel kilometres, and US 37,000 dollars in travel and lodging costs. For the first 82 telemedicine visits, the video quality was inadequate for scoring all components of the motor Unified Parkinson Disease Rating Scale (UPDRS). For the last 18 visits, a different videoconferencing unit produced better video quality, which was satisfactory for motor UPDRS measurements, except for components that required physical contact with the patient (rigidity and retropulsion testing). Our experience shows that telemedicine can be used effectively for follow-up visits with selected PD patients who are unable to travel.

Effect of the implementation of an enterprise-wide Electronic Health Record on productivity in the Veterans Health Administration.

Since 1995, the Veterans Health Administration (VHA) has had an ongoing process of systems improvement that has led to dramatic improvement in the quality of care delivered. A major component of the redesign of the VHA has been the creation of a fully developed enterprise-wide Electronic Health Record (EHR). VHA's Health Information Technology was developed in a collaborative fashion between local clinical champions and central software engineers. Successful national EHR implementation was achieved by 1999, since when the VHA has been able to increase its productivity by nearly 6 per cent per year.

Approach for analysis of order check overrides in a computerized practitioner order entry system.

While it has been established that electronic order entry systems can prevent transcription errors and check orders for severe drug allergies and interactions, continuous monitoring of the effectiveness of order checks is important. The goal of this study is to examine the rate at which high severity order checks generated in the electronic medical record at VA Puget Sound are overridden by clinicians. We compare our results to those of a previous study that found high override rates for Critical Drug Inter-action and Allergy-Drug Interaction order check categories. We are interested in determining whether system changes addressing these high rates have been successful in reducing the overall override rate in these categories. Because the method used previously to extract orders is no longer available, the first step in our study was to develop a new procedure to gather order entry data. This procedure is the subject of our report.

Case-mix adjusting performance measures in a veteran population: pharmacy- and diagnosis-based approaches.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the rankings for health care utilization performance measures at the facility level in a Veterans Health Administration (VHA) health care delivery network using pharmacy- and diagnosis-based case-mix adjustment measures. DATA SOURCES/STUDY SETTING: The study included veterans who used inpatient or outpatient services in Veterans Integrated Service Network (VISN) 20 during fiscal year 1998 (October 1997 to September 1998; N = 126,076). Utilization and pharmacy data were extracted from VHA national databases and the VISN 20 data warehouse. STUDY DESIGN: We estimated concurrent regression models using pharmacy or diagnosis information in the base year (FY1998) to predict health service utilization in the same year. Utilization measures included bed days of care for inpatient care and provider visits for outpatient care. PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Rankings of predicted utilization measures across facilities vary by case-mix adjustment measure. There is greater consistency within the diagnosis-based models than between the diagnosis- and pharmacy-based models. The eight facilities were ranked differently by the diagnosis- and pharmacy-based models. CONCLUSIONS: Choice of case-mix adjustment measure affects rankings of facilities on performance measures, raising concerns about the validity of profiling practices. Differences in rankings may reflect differences in comparability of data capture across facilities between pharmacy and diagnosis data sources, and unstable estimates due to small numbers of patients in a facility.

Characteristics and override rates of order checks in a practitioner order entry system.

Order checks are important error prevention tools when used in conjunction with practitioner order entry systems. We studied characteristics of order checks generated in a sample of consecutively entered orders during a 4 week period in an electronic medical record at VA Puget Sound. We found that in the 42,641 orders where an order check could potentially be generated, 11% generated at least one order check and many generated more than one order check. The rates at which the ordering practitioner overrode 'Critical drug interaction' and 'Allergy-drug interaction' alerts in this sample were 88% and 69% respectively. This was in part due to the presence of alerts for interactions between systemic and topical medications and for alerts generated during medication renewals. Refinement in order check logic could lead to lower override rates and increase practitioner acceptance and effectiveness of order checks.