A schematic case episode format to aid in “Choosing Wisely."

Abstract

181 Background: The recommendations of the Choosing Wisely campaign are evidence –based strategies to reduce cost without sacrificing outcomes. Yet tying the recommendations to indicators of use at the physician and case level has been challenging. As practices become responsible for total cost of care, an easy to use analytic method to determine appropriate use will be critical. We here describe a tool for rapid assessment of individual cases to achieve that objective. Methods: The population was a payer defined cohort of lung cancer patients treated at Texas Oncology (TxO). TxO maintains a payer patient list, updated daily with demographics and diagnosis details for all enrolled patients. The list of lung cancer patients was cross-referenced against billing data from TxO's financial data warehouse (FDW). The FDW data is generated monthly, based on billing details from TxO's practice management system, and includes procedure codes and dates of service. Radiation therapy, chemotherapy, and GCSF administrations for each enrolled lung cancer patient were identified in the FDW data based on CPT codes. SAS software (version 9.4 for Windows) was used to generate a time series plot for each patient, based on date of service for each procedure. The time series plots were inserted into an Excel report template, along with general patient information, using a Visual Basic script, for review by TxO's medical director and quality committees. Results: Each patient-specific time series schematic displays elapsed weeks on the x-axis, beginning with week 1 to end of treatment. Three variables are displayed on the y-axis, using distinct colors and symbols: dates of radiation therapy (orange #), dates of GCSF administration (red x), and dates of chemotherapy administration (green ^). Each of the three y-axis variables is assigned a constant value that is plotted along a straight line. A graphic representation for a patient with stage III lung cancer could look as shown in the Table. Conclusions: Treatment episodes can be distilled into a meaningful format that allows rapid case review and the opportunity for continuous learning. Additional diseases and graphics will be available for presentation. [Table: see text]