Impact of a clinical pathway tool on appropriate palliative radiation therapy for bone metastases

Evaluation of clinical decision support systems in oncology: An updated systematic review

With increasing reliance on technology in oncology, the impact of digital clinical decision support (CDS) tools needs to be examined. A systematic review update was conducted and peer-reviewed literature from 2016 to 2022 were included if CDS tools were used for live decision making and comparatively assessed quantitative outcomes. 3369 studies were screened and 19 were included in this updated review. Combined with a previous review of 24 studies, a total of 43 studies were analyzed. Improvements in outcomes were observed in 42 studies, and 34 of these were of statistical significance. Computerized physician order entry and clinical practice guideline systems comprise the greatest number of evaluated CDS tools (13 and 10 respectively), followed by those that utilize patient-reported outcomes (8), clinical pathway systems (8) and prescriber alerts for best-practice advisories (4). Our review indicates that CDS can improve guideline adherence, patient-centered care, and care delivery processes in oncology.

A clinical pathway for integrative medicine in the treatment of functional constipation in Hong Kong, China

OBJECTIVE

Functional constipation (FC) is a common intestinal disease worldwide. Despite the presence of criteria such as Roman IV, there is no standardized diagnosis and treatment algorithm in Hong Kong that combines both Western and Chinese medicine approaches. This study integrates current effective and safe diagnosis and treatment methods for FC and provides a clear and scientific pathway for clinical professionals and patients.

METHODS

A systematic search of the PubMed, Cochrane Library, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure databases was performed from their inception to June 30th, 2022, collecting the current evidence about the efficacious integrative management for FC. We organized a meeting of professionals in fields relevant to treatment and management of FC to develop a consensus agreement on clinical pathway process.

RESULTS

We developed a clinical pathway for the treatment of FC based on the most recent published guidelines and consultation with experts. This pathway includes a hierarchy of recommendations for every step of the clinical process, including clinical intake, diagnostic examination, recommended labs, diagnostic flowchart, and guidance for selection of therapeutic drugs.

CONCLUSION

This pathway establishes clinical standards for the diagnosis and treatment of FC using Chinese medicine and Western medicine; it will help to provide high-quality medical services in Hong Kong for patients with FC. Please cite this article as: Wei DJ, Li HJ, Lyu ZP, Lyu AP, Bian ZX, Zhong LL. A clinical pathway for integrative medicine in the treatment of functional constipation in Hong Kong, China. J Integr Med. 2023; 21(6): 550-560.

Evaluating Oncology Clinical Pathways: What Bar Are We Aiming for?

Oncology clinical pathways may result in cost savings, but we need more understanding about patient outcomes and reasons for nonadherence.

Association of Patient, Physician, and Practice-Level Factors with Uptake of Payer-Led Oncology Clinical Pathways

Importance

Payers use oncology clinical pathways programs to increase evidence-based drug prescribing and control drug spending. However, compliance with these programs has been low, which may decrease their efficacy, and factors associated with pathway compliance are unknown.

Objective

To determine extent of pathway compliance and identify factors associated with pathway compliance using characteristics of patients, practices, and the companies that develop cancer treatment pathways.

Design, Setting, and Participants

This cohort study comprised patients with claims and administrative data from a national insurer and a pathways health care professional between July 1, 2018, and October 31, 2021. Adult patients with metastatic breast, lung, colorectal, pancreatic, melanoma, kidney, bladder, gastric, and uterine cancer being treated in the first line were included. Six months of continuous insurance coverage prior to the date of treatment initiation was required for determination of baseline characteristics. Stepwise logistic regression was used to identify factors associated with pathway compliance.

Main Outcomes and Measures

Use of a pathway program-endorsed treatment regimen in the first-line setting for metastatic cancer.

Results

Among 17 293 patients (mean [SD] age, 60.7 [11.2] years; 9183 [53.1%] women; mean [SD] Black patients per census block, 0.10 [0.20]), 11 071 patients (64.0%) were on-pathway, and 6222 (36.0%) were off-pathway. Factors associated with increased pathway compliance were higher health care utilization during the 6-month baseline period (measured in inpatient visits and emergency department visits) (5220 on-pathway inpatient visits [47.2%] vs 2797 off-pathway [45.0%]; emergency department visits, 3304 [27.1%] vs 1503 [24.2%]; adjusted odds ratio [aOR] for inpatient visits, 1.32; 95% CI, 1.22-1.43; P < .001), volume of patients with this insurance provider per physician (mean [SD] visits: on-pathway, 128.0 [258.3] vs off-pathway, 121.8 [161.4]; aOR, 1.12; 95% CI, 1.04-1.20; P = .002), and practice participation in the Oncology Care Model (on-pathway participation, 2601 [23.5%] vs 1305 [21.0%]; aOR, 1.13; 95% CI, 1.04-1.23; P = .004). Higher total medical cost during the 6-month baseline period were associated with decreased pathway compliance (mean [SD] costs: on-pathway, $55 990 [$69 706] vs $65 955 [$74 678]; aOR, 0.86; 95% CI, 0.83-0.88; P < .001). There was heterogeneity in odds of pathway compliance between different malignancies. Pathway compliance rates trended down from the reference year of 2018.

Conclusions and Relevance

In this cohort study, despite generous financial incentives, compliance with payer-led pathways remained at historically reported low rates. Factors such as increasing exposure to the program due to the number of patients impacted and participation in other value-based payment programs, such as the Oncology Care Model, were positively associated with compliance; factors such as the type of cancer and patient complexity may have played a role, but the directionality of potential effects was unclear.

Unwarranted variation in radiation therapy fractionation

The adoption of hypofractionation across multiple tumour sites has been slow despite robust evidence. There is considerable unwarranted variation in practice, both within and between jurisdictions. This has been attributed to inconsistencies in guidelines, physician preference, lack of technology and differing financial incentives. Unwarranted variation in the use of hypofractionation has a tremendous effect on cost to both patients and the healthcare system. This places an unnecessary burden on patients and poorly utilises scarce healthcare resources. A collaborative effort from clinicians, patients, healthcare providers and policymakers is needed to reduce unwarranted variation in practice. This will improve quality of care both for patients and at broader healthcare system level.

Does a Custom Electronic Health Record Alert System Improve Physician Compliance With National Quality Measures for Palliative Bone Metastasis Radiotherapy?

PURPOSE

In an effort to promote cost-conscious, high-quality, and patient-centered care in the palliative radiation of painful bone metastases, the National Quality Forum (NQF) formed measure 1822 in 2012, which recommends the use of one of the four dose-fractionation schemes (30 Gy in 10 fractions, 24 Gy in 6 fractions, 20 Gy in 5 fractions, or 8 Gy in a single fraction). We investigated whether a custom electronic health record (EHR) alert system improved quality measure compliance among 88 physicians at a large academic center and institutional network.

METHODS

In March 2018, a multiphase alert system was embedded in a custom web-based EHR. Prior to a course of palliative bone radiation, the alert system notified the user of NQF 1822 recommendations and, once prescription was completed, either affirmed compliance or advised a change in treatment schedule. Rates of compliance were evaluated before and after implementation of alert system.

RESULTS

Of 2,399 treatment courses, 86.5% were compliant with NQF 1822 recommendations. There was no difference in rates of NQF 1822 compliance before or after implementation of the custom EHR alert (86.0% before March 2018 v 86.9% during and after March 2018, P = .551).

CONCLUSION

There was no change in rates of compliance following implementation of a custom EHR alert system designed to make treatment recommendations based on national quality measure guidelines. To be of most benefit, future palliative bone metastasis decision aids should leverage peer review, target a clear practice deficiency, center upon high-quality practice guidelines, and allow flexibility to reflect the diversity of clinical scenarios.

Oncology Medical Home: ASCO and COA Standards

PURPOSE

To provide Standards on the basis of evidence and expert consensus for a pilot of the Oncology Medical Home (OMH) certification program. The OMH model is a system of care delivery that features coordinated, efficient, accessible, and evidence-based care and includes a process for measurement of outcomes to facilitate continuous quality improvement. The OMH pilot is intended to inform further refinement of Standards for OMH model implementation.

METHODS

An Expert Panel was formed, and a systematic review of the literature on the topics of OMH, clinical pathways, and survivorship care plans was performed using PubMed and Google Scholar. Using this evidence base and an informal consensus process, the Expert Panel developed a set of OMH Standards. Public comments were solicited and considered in preparation of the final manuscript.

RESULTS

Three comparative peer-reviewed studies of OMH met the inclusion criteria. In addition, the results from 16 studies of clinical pathways and one systematic review of survivorship care plans informed the evidence review. Limitations of the evidence base included the small number of studies of OMH and lack of longer-term outcomes data. More data were available to inform the specific Standards for pathways and survivorship care; however, outcomes were mixed for the latter intervention. The Expert Panel concluded that in the future, practices should be encouraged to publish the results of OMH interventions in peer-reviewed journals to improve the evidence base.

STANDARDS

Standards are provided for OMH in the areas of patient engagement, availability and access to care, evidence-based medicine, equitable and comprehensive team-based care, quality improvement, goals of care, palliative and end-of-life care discussions, and chemotherapy safety. Additional information, including a Standards implementation manual, is available at www.asco.org/standards.

The pilot results of 47 148 cases of BJ-DRGs-based payment in China

PURPOSE

Diagnosis-related groups (DRGs)-based payment is an important tool for containment of inpatient expenditure rise in many countries. As a major developing country, China has introduced DRGs in the health reform. Beijing, the capital of China, developed a local DRGs version (BJ-DRGs) whose performance needs to be evaluated before universal utilization. The objective of this study was to survey the effect of BJ-DRGs-based payment on a pilot hospital.

METHODS

We surveyed the profit and loss situation of 47 148 cases of hospital discharged patients in 107 groups of pilot BJ-DRGs-based payment from December 2011 to July 2018 in certain top tertiary hospital in Beijing.

RESULTS

In pilot 107 groups of DRGs, there were 77 groups (71.96%) in profit and 30 groups (28.04%) in loss; average length of inpatient stay was 7.47 days, average inpatient expenditure ¥17 821.19, average DRGs standard unit price ¥15 896.83, average self-pay expenditure ¥1 117.04, and average profit ¥1 849.65; logistic regression showed that whether the pilot hospital of BJ-DRGs-based payment was in profit or loss was correlated negatively with inpatient expenditure, length of inpatient stay, drug expenditure, expenditure of medical consumables, and pilot years, and positively with DRGs standard unit price, self-pay expenditure, and age and gender (P < .0001).

CONCLUSION

BJ-DRGs-based payment is the first implemented DRGs-based prospective payment system in China. The current DRGs pilot model made the pilot hospital appear profitable as a whole and its length of inpatient stay decline.

Trends in Radiation for Bone Metastasis During a Period of Multiple National Quality Improvement Initiatives

PURPOSE

To evaluate trends in fractionation and cost of radiation for bone metastasis during a time period of multiple national quality improvement initiatives that focused on reducing the number of fractions per radiation episode.

METHODS

Using nationwide Medicare claims from 2011 to 2014, we identified radiation episodes for bone metastasis from prostate, lung, and breast cancer. Details regarding fractionation, radiation therapy (RT) modality, and sociodemographic characteristics were abstracted from claims. Time trends in use of 10 or fewer RT fractions per episode were evaluated using the Cochran-Armitage test. Total cost per episode was calculated from a payer's perspective and reported in 2017 dollars; time trends in cost were assessed using linear regression. Generalized linear models identified predictors of treatment with 10 or fewer fractions.

RESULTS

Of 51,533 episodes identified, 46,326 used 2D/3D RT, 3,199 used intensity-modulated RT, and 2,008 used stereotactic body RT. The proportion of 2D/3D RT episodes using 10 or fewer fractions increased from 65.5% to 79.7% ( P_trend < .001), and mean total cost per episode decreased from $6,742 to $6,067 ( P_trend < .001). Use of single-fraction radiation increased modestly for 2D/3D treatment (6.5% to 8.1%; P_trend < .001). Predictors of 10 or fewer fractions included treatment in recent years, advanced age (≥ 85 years), and higher comorbidity score. Variation was noted based on geographic region and primary cancer.

CONCLUSION

During a period with quality initiatives launched by the American Society for Radiation Oncology, American Board of Internal Medicine, and National Quality Forum, use of 10 or fewer fractions for bone metastasis increased by 14.2%, but single-fraction regimens increased by only 1.6%, highlighting opportunities for quality improvement.