A Data-Driven Algorithm to Recommend Initial Clinical Workup for Outpatient Specialty Referral: Algorithm Development and Validation Using Electronic Health Record Data and Expert Surveys.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Millions of people have limited access to specialty care. The problem is exacerbated by ineffective specialty visits due to incomplete prereferral workup, leading to delays in diagnosis and treatment. Existing processes to guide prereferral diagnostic workup are labor-intensive (ie, building a consensus guideline between primary care doctors and specialists) and require the availability of the specialists (ie, electronic consultation).

Objective

Using pediatric endocrinology as an example, we develop a recommender algorithm to anticipate patients' initial workup needs at the time of specialty referral and compare it to a reference benchmark using the most common workup orders. We also evaluate the clinical appropriateness of the algorithm recommendations.

Metho

SUBMITTER: Ip W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8931647 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature