Patient Recruitment Into a Multicenter Clinical Cohort Linking Electronic Health Records From 5 Health Systems: Cross-sectional Analysis

Molly B Conroy,Scott D Rothenberger,Kathleen M McTigue,Carolyn T Bramante,Wendy L Bennett,Jeanne M Clark,Harold Lehmann,Megan Gauvey-Kern,Jennifer L Kraschnewski,Sharon J Herring,Nickie Cappella,Jody McCullough,Michelle R Lent

doi:10.2196/24003

Abstract

BackgroundThere is growing interest in identifying and recruiting research participants from health systems using electronic health records (EHRs). However, few studies have described the practical aspects of the recruitment process or compared electronic recruitment methods to in-person recruitment, particularly across health systems.ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to describe the steps and efficiency of the recruitment process and participant characteristics by recruitment strategy.MethodsEHR-based eligibility criteria included being an adult patient engaged in outpatient primary or bariatric surgery care at one of 5 health systems in the PaTH Clinical Research Network and having ≥2 weight measurements and 1 height measurement recorded in their EHR within the last 5 years. Recruitment strategies varied by site and included one or more of the following methods: (1) in-person recruitment by study staff from clinical sites, (2) US postal mail recruitment letters, (3) secure email, and (4) direct EHR recruitment through secure patient web portals. We used descriptive statistics to evaluate participant characteristics and proportion of patients recruited (ie, efficiency) by modality.ResultsThe total number of eligible patients from the 5 health systems was 5,051,187. Of these, 40,048 (0.8%) were invited to enter an EHR-based cohort study and 1085 were enrolled. Recruitment efficiency was highest for in-person recruitment (33.5%), followed by electronic messaging (2.9%), including email (2.9%) and EHR patient portal messages (2.9%). Overall, 779 (65.7%) patients were enrolled through electronic messaging, which also showed greater rates of recruitment of Black patients compared with the other strategies.ConclusionsWe recruited a total of 1085 patients from primary care and bariatric surgery settings using 4 recruitment strategies. The recruitment efficiency was 2.9% for email and EHR patient portals, with the majority of participants recruited electronically. This study can inform the design of future research studies using EHR-based recruitment.

Highlights

BackgroundRecruitment of patients for research using electronic health records (EHRs) has potential to enhance the applicability and efficiency of patient-centered research [1,2]
We recruited a total of 1085 patients from primary care and bariatric surgery settings using 4 recruitment strategies
This study can inform the design of future research studies using EHR-based recruitment

Summary

Introduction

Recruitment of patients for research using electronic health records (EHRs) has potential to enhance the applicability and efficiency of patient-centered research [1,2]. There is interest in designing research studies that include “real-world evidence” (ie, health care information representative of patients, populations, and health care delivery systems from actual clinical settings [5,6]). The PaTH Clinical Research Network (CRN) originally brought together 4 academic medical centers in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States to build the infrastructure to share EHR data across health systems so that patient-centered clinical questions could be answered in real-world settings [8]. There is growing interest in identifying and recruiting research participants from health systems using electronic health records (EHRs). Few studies have described the practical aspects of the recruitment process or compared electronic recruitment methods to in-person recruitment, across health systems

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Discussion

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