285949
Using health information technology as a tool for systems change and racial equity in cancer care: Phase I of accure
Samuel Cykert, MD,
Division of General Medicine and Clinical Epidemiology and NC Area Health Education Centers Program, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC
Byron Raines,
Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC
Christina Hardy, MPH,
Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC
Eugenia Eng, MPH, DrPH,
Gillings School of Global Public Health, Department of Health Behavior, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC
Ziya Gizlice, PhD,
Center for Health Promotion and Disease Prevention, University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC
Skip Hislop,
Cone Health Regional Cancer Center, Greensboro, NC
Nora Jones, MEd,
501(C)3 agency which sponsors anti-racism workshops, The Partnership Project, Greensboro, NC
The Accountability for Cancer Care through Undoing Racism and Equity study is a partnership between communities and health systems to optimize transparency and accountability to achieve racial equity in cancer treatment among patients with early stage breast and lung cancer. Given national emphasis on electronic health records and meaningful use (MU), we are leveraging EHRs for race specific quality reports and development of a real time registry that identifies patients who have missed appointments or have not met expected milestones in timely cancer care. We developed an automated system to perform a retrospective chart review in 2 disparate and complex healthcare systems. The data obtained serves as a baseline for our population based interrupted, time-series analysis and will be used as the substrate for initial race-specific feedback sessions for providers to begin the quality improvement methodology in the study. Transparent data and provider feedback are part of a multi-faceted intervention to narrow gaps in both treatment initiation and completion between White and African-American patients. The programming involved in collecting the retrospective data will be transferable to prospective data acquisitions so changes in care can instantly be assessed over time. The real time electronic registry is the key to the patient-centered tracking process. Imbedded warnings from this system will serve as triggers for discussions and services provided by a navigator trained to identify adherence barriers related to implicit system bias. We will present early results and discuss overcoming MU deficits and using EHRs for improving transparency and care.
Learning Areas:
Chronic disease management and prevention
Communication and informatics
Systems thinking models (conceptual and theoretical models), applications related to public health
Learning Objectives:
Explain how electronic health records can actually be used to address cancer
disparities.
Describe how transparency and specific workflows are needed to close gaps in care as electronic data systems alone cannot accomplish this goal
Discuss other possible applications of EHRs in system change and care improvement.
Keyword(s): Cancer, African American
Presenting author's disclosure statement:Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I've been the principal investigator on 3 health disparities projects including the project from which this abstract is derived.
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines,
and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed
in my presentation.