different proportions of high risk pregnancies and parity, but using standard populations of primiparous women at low risk identified by the criteria described here could enable valid international comparisons of spontaneous preterm delivery rates to be made.Contributors: JL-R conceived the study in collaboration with UK. SR retrieved register data and performed the initial analyses. UK performed additional statistical analyses. All authors contributed to the data interpretation. JL-R wrote the first draft of the manuscript and all authors contributed to the revision. AbstractObjectives To determine the prevalence of false or misleading statements in messages posted by internet cancer support groups and whether these statements were identified as false or misleading and corrected by other participants in subsequent postings.

BackgroundDelayed diagnosis of cancer can lead to patient harm, and strategies are needed to proactively and efficiently detect such delays in care. We aimed to develop and evaluate ‘trigger’ algorithms to electronically flag medical records of patients with potential delays in prostate and colorectal cancer (CRC) diagnosis.MethodsWe mined retrospective data from two large integrated health systems with comprehensive electronic health records (EHR) to iteratively develop triggers. Data mining algorithms identified all patient records with specific demographics and a lack of appropriate and timely follow-up actions on four diagnostic clues that were newly documented in the EHR: abnormal prostate-specific antigen (PSA), positive faecal occult blood test (FOBT), iron-deficiency anaemia (IDA), and haematochezia. Triggers subsequently excluded patients not needing follow-up (eg, terminal illness) or who had already received appropriate and timely care. Each of the four final triggers was applied to a test cohort, and chart reviews of randomly selected records identified by the triggers were used to calculate positive predictive values (PPV).ResultsThe PSA trigger was applied to records of 292 587 patients seen between 1 January 2009 and 31 December 2009, and the CRC triggers were applied to 291 773 patients seen between 1 March 2009 and 28 February 2010. Overall, 1564 trigger positive patients were identified (426 PSA, 355 FOBT, 610 IDA and 173 haematochezia). Record reviews revealed PPVs of 70.2%, 66.7%, 67.5%, and 58.3% for the PSA, FOBT, IDA and haematochezia triggers, respectively. Use of all four triggers at the study sites could detect an estimated 1048 instances of delayed or missed follow-up of abnormal findings annually and 47 high-grade cancers.ConclusionsEHR-based triggers can be used successfully to flag patient records lacking follow-up of abnormal clinical findings suspicious for cancer.

BackgroundSuccessful subspecialty referrals require considerable coordination and interactive communication among the primary care provider (PCP), the subspecialist, and the patient, which may be challenging in the outpatient setting. Even when referrals are facilitated by electronic health records (EHRs) (i.e., e-referrals), lapses in patient follow-up might occur. Although compelling reasons exist why referral coordination should be improved, little is known about which elements of the complex referral coordination process should be targeted for improvement. Using Okhuysen & Bechky's coordination framework, this paper aims to understand the barriers, facilitators, and suggestions for improving communication and coordination of EHR-based referrals in an integrated healthcare system.MethodsWe conducted a qualitative study to understand coordination breakdowns related to e-referrals in an integrated healthcare system and examined work-system factors that affect the timely receipt of subspecialty care. We conducted interviews with seven subject matter experts and six focus groups with a total of 30 PCPs and subspecialists at two tertiary care Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical centers. Using techniques from grounded theory and content analysis, we identified organizational themes that affected the referral process.ResultsFour themes emerged: lack of an institutional referral policy, lack of standardization in certain referral procedures, ambiguity in roles and responsibilities, and inadequate resources to adapt and respond to referral requests effectively. Marked differences in PCPs' and subspecialists' communication styles and individual mental models of the referral processes likely precluded the development of a shared mental model to facilitate coordination and successful referral completion. Notably, very few barriers related to the EHR were reported.ConclusionsDespite facilitating information transfer between PCPs and subspecialists, e-referrals remain prone to coordination breakdowns. Clear referral policies, well-defined roles and responsibilities for key personnel, standardized procedures and communication protocols, and adequate human resources must be in place before implementing an EHR to facilitate referrals.

OBJECTIVES: Electronic health records (EHR) enable transmission and tracking of referrals between primarycare practitioners (PCPs) and subspecialists. We used an EHR to examine follow-up actions on electronic referral communication in a large multispecialty VA facility. METHODS: We retrieved outpatient referrals to five subspecialties between October 2006 and December 2007, and queried the EHR to determine their status: completed, discontinued (returned to PCP), or unresolved (no action taken by subspecialist). All unresolved referrals, and random samples of discontinued and completed referrals were reviewed to determine whether subspecialists took follow-up actions (i.e., schedule appointments anytime in the future) within 30 days of referral-receipt. For referrals without timely follow-up, we determined whether inaction was supported by any predetermined justifiable reasons or associated with certain referral characteristics. We also reviewed if PCPs took the required action on returned information. RESULTS: Of 61,931 referrals, 22,535 were discontinued (36.4%), and 474 were unresolved (0.8%). We selected 412 discontinued referrals randomly for review. Of these, 52% lacked follow-up actions within 30 days. Appropriate justifications for inaction were documented in 69.8% (150/215) of those without action and included lack of prerequisite testing by the PCP and subspecialist opinion that no intervention was required despite referral. We estimated that at 30 days, 6.3% of all referrals were associated with an unexplained lack of follow-up actions by subspecialists. Conversely, 7.4% of discontinued referrals returned to PCPs were associated with an unexplained lack of follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: Although the EHR facilitates transmission of valuable information at the PCP-subspecialist interface, unexplained communication breakdowns in the referral process persist in a subset of cases.