EHR triggers can aid in follow-up care for lung cancer
A “trigger” algorithm in EHR systems can be used to identify patients who may have cancer for whom follow-up screening was delayed.
Researchers designed the trigger as an alert to notify clinicians when a patient with an abnormal lung imaging result did not receive a follow-up diagnostic evaluation in a timely manner. They tested it in a large healthcare facility over a one-year period. In that period, 89,168 patients visited the facility, 24,829 had at least one chest image taken and 538 had findings that radiologists flagged as suspicious. The trigger algorithm identified 131 patients, of whom 75 were found to have a delay in follow-up action, which was confirmed through a manual review of records.
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Editor Beth earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism and master’s in health communication. She has worked in hospital, academic and publishing settings over the past 20 years. Beth joined TriMed in 2005, as editor of CMIO and Clinical Innovation + Technology. When not covering all things related to health IT, she spends time with her husband and three children.