Quality of Co-Prescribing NSAID and Gastroprotective Medications for Elders in The Netherlands and Its Association with the Electronic Medical Record

Incentivizing appropriate prescribing in primary care: Development and first results of an electronic health record-based pay-for-performance scheme

OBJECTIVE

Part of the funding of Dutch General Practitioners (GPs) care is based on pay-for-performance, including an incentive for appropriate prescribing according to guidelines in national formularies. Aim of this paper is to describe the development of an indicator and an infrastructure based on prescription data from GP Electronic Health Records (EHR), to assess the level of adherence to formularies and the effects of the pay-for-performance scheme, thereby assessing the usefulness of the infrastructure and the indicator.

METHODS

Adherence to formularies was calculated as the percentage of first prescriptions by the GP for medications that were included in one of the national formularies used by the GP, based on prescription data from EHRs. Adherence scores were collected quarterly for 2018 and 2019 and subsequently sent to health insurance companies for the pay-for-performance scheme. Adherence scores were used to monitor the effect of the pay-for-performance scheme.

RESULTS

75% (2018) and 83% (2019) of all GP practicesparticipated. Adherence to formularies was around 85% or 95%, depending on the formulary used. Adherence improved significantly, especially for practices that scored lowest in 2018.

DISCUSSION

We found high levels of adherence to national formularies, with small improvements after one year. The infrastructure will be used to further stimulate formulary-based prescribing by implementing more actionable and relevant indicators on adherence scores for GPs.

Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in the elderly. Agreement with safe prescription recommendations according to cardiovascular and gastrointestinal risks

INTRODUCTION/OBJECTIVE

Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs are the cornerstone in the treatment of acute and chronic pain due to inflammation in musculoskeletal conditions. Even though adverse side-effects are associated, their use is common in the elderly patients. Our aim is to determine the prescription trend of NSAIDs, the evaluation for gastrointestinal (GI) and cardiovascular (CV) risks, and the level of agreement with prescription guidelines.

METHODS

We conducted an observation and descriptive study in a general hospital geriatrics consultation.

RESULTS

From the 231 patients only 59 patients had a NSAIDs prescription. The most frequently prescribed was Acetaminophen, in 29(49.1%) patients, Celecoxib was prescribed in 11(18.6%) patients, Piroxicam in 5(8.4%) patients, Acetaminophen plus Celecoxib plus Omeprazole in 4 (6.7%), Acetaminophen plus Piroxicam in 2 (0.3%) patients, and Acetaminophen plus Diclofenac plus Celecoxib in 1 patient (1.6%). In the Framingham risk classification there were 160/231 (69.3%) patients in Very High Risk and 71/231 (30.7%) patients in High Risk. There were no patients in Low Risk. GI Risk: 79 patients (34.1%) had a peptic ulcer disease history. There were 55/231 (23.8%) in the High GI Risk classification, 102/231 (44.1%) in Intermediate GI Risk and 74/231 (32%) in the Low Risk. The level of agreement between the prescribed versus recommended NSAIDs according the CV and GI risks was measured with a contingence table and the kappa statistic of 0.37 p=0.001.

CONCLUSION

There is a low level of agreement between prescribed and recommended NSAID in elderly population.

Impact of Electronic Health Record Interface Design on Unsafe Prescribing of Ciclosporin, Tacrolimus, and Diltiazem: Cohort Study in English National Health Service Primary Care

BACKGROUND

In England, national safety guidance recommends that ciclosporin, tacrolimus, and diltiazem are prescribed by brand name due to their narrow therapeutic windows and, in the case of tacrolimus, to reduce the chance of organ transplantation rejection. Various small studies have shown that changes to electronic health record (EHR) system interfaces can affect prescribing choices.

OBJECTIVE

Our objectives were to assess variation by EHR systems in breach of safety guidance around prescribing of ciclosporin, tacrolimus, and diltiazem, and to conduct user-interface research into the causes of such breaches.

METHODS

We carried out a retrospective cohort study using prescribing data in English primary care. Participants were English general practices and their respective EHR systems. The main outcome measures were (1) the variation in ratio of safety breaches to adherent prescribing in all practices and (2) the description of observations of EHR system usage.

RESULTS

A total of 2,575,411 prescriptions were issued in 2018 for ciclosporin, tacrolimus, and diltiazem (over 60 mg); of these, 316,119 prescriptions breached NHS guidance (12.27%). Breaches were most common among users of the EMIS EHR system (breaches in 18.81% of ciclosporin and tacrolimus prescriptions and in 17.99% of diltiazem prescriptions), but breaches were observed in all EHR systems.

CONCLUSIONS

Design choices in EHR systems strongly influence safe prescribing of ciclosporin, tacrolimus, and diltiazem, and breaches are prevalent in general practices in England. We recommend that all EHR vendors review their systems to increase safe prescribing of these medicines in line with national guidance. Almost all clinical practice is now mediated through an EHR system; further quantitative research into the effect of EHR system design on clinical practice is long overdue.

Suboptimal prescribing behaviour associated with clinical software design features: a retrospective cohort study in English NHS primary care

BACKGROUND

Electronic health record (EHR) systems are used by clinicians to record patients' medical information, and support clinical activities such as prescribing. In England, healthcare professionals are advised to 'prescribe generically' because generic drugs are usually cheaper than branded alternatives, and have fixed reimbursement costs. 'Ghost-branded generics' are a new category of medicines savings, caused by prescribers specifying a manufacturer for a generic product, often resulting in a higher reimbursement price compared with the true generic.

AIM

To describe time trends and practice factors associated with excess medication costs from ghost-branded generic prescribing.

DESIGN AND SETTING

Retrospective cohort study of English GP prescribing data and EHR deployment data.

METHOD

A retrospective cohort study was conducted, based on data from the OpenPrescribing.net database from May 2013 to May 2019. Total spending on ghost-branded generics across England was calculated, and excess spend on ghost-branded generics calculated as a percentage of all spending on generics for every CCG and general practice in England, for every month in the study period.

RESULTS

There were 31.8 million ghost-branded generic items and £9.5 million excess cost in 2018, compared with 7.45 million ghost-branded generic items and £1.3 million excess cost in 2014. Most excess costs were associated with one EHR, SystmOne, and it was identified that SystmOne offered ghost-branded generic options as the default. After informing the vendor, the authors monitored for subsequent change in costs, and report a rapid decrease in ghost-branded generic expenditure.

CONCLUSION

A design choice in a commonly used EHR has led to £9.5 million in avoidable excess prescribing costs for the NHS in 1 year. Notifying the vendor led to a change in user interface and a rapid, substantial spend reduction. This finding illustrates that EHR user interface design has a substantial impact on the quality, safety, and cost-effectiveness of clinical practice; this should be a priority for quantitative research.