PS1-1b: Use of the CER Hub to Evaluate Exercise Counseling in Primary Care

Abstract

Background/Aims Regular physical activity (PA) markedly improves health, physical function, independence, mood, and quality of life while reducing the risk of obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and some cancers. However, most people in the US do not meet recommended PA levels. The primary care setting is well-suited to long-term follow-up with repeated assessment and modification of treatment plans (e.g., for controlling hypertension). This approach is adaptable to exercise assessment and counseling—“exercise as medicine”. Kaiser Permanente (KP) recently introduced a PA promotion initiative that includes a new electronic medical record (EMR) feature to document current PA level (called “Exercise as a Vital Sign” or EVS). Provider counseling and referral for exercise items do not appear in structural fields in the EMR. We therefore plan to use natural language processing to assess the efficacy of EVS.