Published in:
01-01-2021 | Prostate Cancer | Original Research
Implementation and Impact of a Risk-Stratified Prostate Cancer Screening Algorithm as a Clinical Decision Support Tool in a Primary Care Network
Authors:
Anand Shah, MD, MBA, Thomas J. Polascik, MD, Daniel J. George, MD, John Anderson, MD, MPH, Terry Hyslop, PhD, Alicia M. Ellis, PhD, Andrew J. Armstrong, MD, MSc, Michael Ferrandino, MD, Glenn M. Preminger, MD, Rajan T. Gupta, MD, W. Robert Lee, MD, MS, Nadine J. Barrett, PhD, John Ragsdale, MD, Coleman Mills, MA, CCRP, Devon K. Check, PhD, Alireza Aminsharifi, MD, Ariel Schulman, MD, Christina Sze, MD, MS, Efrat Tsivian, MD, Kae Jack Tay, MD, Steven Patierno, PhD, Kevin C. Oeffinger, MD, Kevin Shah, MD, MBA
Published in:
Journal of General Internal Medicine
|
Issue 1/2021
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Abstract
Background
Implementation methods of risk-stratified cancer screening guidance throughout a health care system remains understudied.
Objective
Conduct a preliminary analysis of the implementation of a risk-stratified prostate cancer screening algorithm in a single health care system.
Design
Comparison of men seen pre-implementation (2/1/2016–2/1/2017) vs. post-implementation (2/2/2017–2/21/2018).
Participants
Men, aged 40–75 years, without a history of prostate cancer, who were seen by a primary care provider.
Interventions
The algorithm was integrated into two components in the electronic health record (EHR): in Health Maintenance as a personalized screening reminder and in tailored messages to providers that accompanied prostate-specific antigen (PSA) results.
Main Measures
Primary outcomes: percent of men who met screening algorithm criteria; percent of men with a PSA result. Logistic repeated measures mixed models were used to test for differences in the proportion of individuals that met screening criteria in the pre- and post-implementation periods with age, race, family history, and PSA level included as covariates.
Key Results
During the pre- and post-implementation periods, 49,053 and 49,980 men, respectively, were seen across 26 clinics (20.6% African American). The proportion of men who met screening algorithm criteria increased from 49.3% (pre-implementation) to 68.0% (post-implementation) (p < 0.001); this increase was observed across all races, age groups, and primary care clinics. Importantly, the percent of men who had a PSA did not change: 55.3% pre-implementation, 55.0% post-implementation. The adjusted odds of meeting algorithm-based screening was 6.5-times higher in the post-implementation period than in the pre-implementation period (95% confidence interval, 5.97 to 7.05).
Conclusions
In this preliminary analysis, following implementation of an EHR-based algorithm, we observed a rapid change in practice with an increase in screening in higher-risk groups balanced with a decrease in screening in low-risk groups. Future efforts will evaluate costs and downstream outcomes of this strategy.