Background/Purpose: Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are accepted modalities of gathering patient self-report of their health status in the realms of physical, mental and social well-being. PROMs are endorsed as metrics of quality of care. With the widespread implementation of electronic medical record (EMR) in the United States, PROM can be captured electronically. At the academic center, EMR in use is Epic® software which interfaces with the Patient-Reported Outcomes Measures System –PROMIS®. In a satellite clinic at UM rheumatology, the providers (n = 3) collectively opted to integrate PROMIS short from questionnaires [Adult Physical Function (PF) and Pain Intensity (PI)] into the EMR. However, the data collection of PROM via patient portals was low (5-10%). Our project aimed to examine collection rate of PROMs using portable devices (Tablets) at the time of check-in the clinic.

Methods: Between July 1, 2016, and March 31, 2018, patients seeking care at one rheumatology satellite clinic completed PROMIS® questionnaires (PF and PI), before the clinic visit. One week before the visit patients received a reminder on the EMR portal to complete the surveys. For patients who did not access questionnaire on the portal, they were able to complete at the time of appointment check-in on an Android-based Tablet. Those patients who could not complete by either portal or Tablet were assisted by a medical assistant (MA) using the office computer. The results were available on the EMR to the providers at the point of care.

Results: Of the total patients seen in rheumatology clinic, 87.2% completed the PROMIS® questionnaires, of which 82.4% used Tablets at check-in, 14.1% completed at home (portal), and 3.4% were assisted on a clinic desktop computer to complete the questionnaire (Table 1).

Conclusion: Use of tablets or other modalities in the clinic at check-in is associated with a high rate of PROMIS® questionnaire completion by patients. The routine use of PROM data collection at check-in may encourage patients to complete PROMIS® questionnaires on EMR portal accessed at home. Around 13% of patients did not complete questionnaires due to various reasons – lack of portal access, limited tablet availability at check-in, time constraints for MAs in a busy clinic, and rarely, patient refusal to complete. Given the increased acceptance, the routine of PROM data in the clinic using a tablet with EMR integration should be explored as a preferred modality.

Table 1: PROMIS® questionnaire completion rates

« Back to 2018 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting

ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/use-of-handheld-device-to-enhance-patient-reported-outcome-measure-data-collection-in-an-academic-rheumatology-practice/