Reference Class Selection
Informatics consult systems should be designed to leverage physician expertise in defining patient groups similar to each patient being treated. To achieve that desired functionality, ICSCEDIT was designed with a series of patient characteristic filters which can be applied to subset historical patient records into similar cohorts matching the index patient of interest. A total of 14 patient filters across demographic, fracture characteristics, and patient comorbidities are included. Patient characteristic filters allow for data stratification on important treatment effect modifiers and confounding factors and aim to create homogeneous groups of patients with PHF. The physician user can apply as many or as few filters as desired and immediately view treatment utilization and outcome data by treatment group, for the selected matched cohort. Ideally, the informatics system would produce dynamic cohort searches and on-demand data summaries in seconds, making the system relevant during the clinical encounter as treatment options are discussed with the patient. Figure 1 displays reference class filter criteria on the left-hand side of the image. Once patient characteristics filters are applied, the total reference class sample size would be displayed across the bottom of the left-hand pane. The physician user can quickly modify his or her search by adding or removing filters, which will adjust the reference class size.
In Fig. 1 the search criteria would reflect a target patient with the following profile: female patient, age 75, with a fracture on her non-dominate shoulder. The fracture is a 2-part fracture which is majorly displaced at the surgical neck. The patient did not sustain any concurrent fractures in other regions of her body. She does not have a history of falls, does not currently have dementia or shoulder osteoarthritis, she lives at home, and is evaluated by the physician user to be frail. The diabetes filter was not engaged in this particular reference class search; therefore the reference cohort contains patients with and without diabetes.
Reference Class Treatment Rates
ICSCEDIT is designed to provide comparative effectiveness evidence for the reference class of patients the physician defines as similar to the index patient being treated. The first tab in the treatment comparators results pane displays treatment rates of initial surgery and conservative management for the reference class. This data will help physicians evaluate how much consensus there is in the treatment choice for this specific subset of patients. The middle portion of the data pane contains the surgical treatment rate over time for the physician user and the average surgical treatment across all physicians. This information will be helpful in showing how treatment rates are trending over time and how the physician user’s practice patterns compare to the average across all other surgeons.
At the bottom of the middle pane are two pie charts. These charts are used to represent the historical treatment patterns of 1) the physician user and 2) high-volume physician users. High volume physicians are defined as the physicians that care for 10% or more of the reference class cohort. The comparison of the physician user data compared to high-volume physicians provides insight on an individual’s practice patterns compared to their most experienced peer physicians. This feature introduces a learning component that may serve to educate physician outliers, thereby decreasing variability in treatment and improving overall quality of care.
The display of treatment variation across physicians and time, as demonstrated in the run chart at the center of the middle pane and the pie charts at the bottom of the middle pane, is data that has never previously been readily available to orthopaedic physicians. Instead, physicians have relied upon their own historical treatment experiences when making new treatment recommendations, which can be subject to cognitive errors. Now, physicians can evaluate their own decision-making in reference to other practicing physicians. This feature may be especially useful for residents, fellows, or young physicians who do not yet have years of experience treating patients. The feature adds a learning or training component that could be highly valuable for physicians. Additionally, with advances in data interoperability, this feature could be beneficial for physicians in small, remote practices who do not routinely treat a high volume of PHF injuries and could benefit from peer comparison.(20)
Figure 1 displays the Treatment Comparators data visualizations. For the reference class displayed in Fig. 1, we see that 80% of the entire reference class was initially treated with conservative management. The physician user had historical surgical rates that at times differed and at times were similar to the average surgery rate for other physicians. Currently in Q2, the physician user was using surgery at a lower rate than other physicians. In the bottom two charts, we see that the physician user used surgery at a lower rate compared to high-volume physicians for patients in the matched reference class. The physician user surgery rate was only 12.5% compared to 25% for high volume physicians.
Personalized Treatment Evidence - PROMs
The second tab is the Mean Outcome Scores pane which contains summaries of PROMs presented for patients in the reference class by treatment groups. PROMs are considered a gold standard outcome in orthopaedic medicine as they measure improvement or changes in outcome dimensions that are important to patients.(44)The PROMs selected for inclusion in ICSCEDIT include the visual analog pain score (VAPS), the Constant score, the Single Alpha Numeric Evaluation (SANE), the PROMIS-physical function score, and degrees of shoulder range of motion. PROMs are reported for four time points across the outcome period at three months, six months, one year and two years after the index PHF injury. Results are stratified and color-coded by treatment group for easy comparison. Physicians can quickly glance across all outcomes and evaluate which treatment group achieved superior outcomes.
Figure 2 shows the data visualizations in the Mean Outcome Scores pane. The patients in the reference class that received initial surgery are color coded with purple and the initial conservative management patients have scores in blue. From Fig. 2, we see that patients treated with surgery had higher SANE and Constant scores at 3 and 6 months, but SANE and Constant scores were similar between surgical and conservative groups by 2 years. Similarly, pain was under control as early as 3 months for the surgical group, but conservatively managed patients reported higher pain scores through six months. In terms of range of motion, surgically-treated patients achieved better forward flexion of 170 degrees compared to only 110 degrees for conservatively-managed patients.
Personalized Treatment Evidence – Healthcare Utilization
We believe that providing summaries of healthcare utilization over the year following the PHF injury provides helpful insight for physicians and patients as they weigh treatment options. The mean number of follow-up orthopaedic visits, physical therapy visits, injections, and hospital admissions are reported in ICSCEDIT. Follow-up orthopaedic visits and care may be indicative of routine care, or if prolonged, could indicate suboptimal outcomes. Similarly, severe adverse events which are unintended consequences of orthopaedic treatment, are captured by hospital admissions. The anticipated health care utilization associated with a treatment pathway is important for patients to know prior to treatment choice, as it helps patients manage expectations in the outcome period. We also report on the proportion of the conservative management treatment group that converted to surgical treatment within 60 days. This is a highly relevant data point for the treatment of PHF and may help expedite the decision to opt for initial surgical treatment.
Lastly, we introduce a conceptual measure of orthopaedic treatment success derived from EHR clinical notes. Clinical notes document the degree of improvement or relief experienced and reported directly by patients, in addition to scenarios in which symptoms have not resolved, or when subsequent complications have arisen. We believe that deep learning natural language processing (NLP) models can use phrases found in the clinical notes in EHR systems to develop measures of orthopaedic treatment success. Figure 3 shows the data visualizations in the Healthcare Utilization Outcomes pane.