Presented at the 2013 AAPM Annual Meeting « Back

Impact Of An Electronic Pain and Risk Assessment on Documentation and Clinical Workflow

Kevin L. Zacharoff, MD, kzacharoff@inflexxion.com¹, Stephen F. Butler, PhD², Sadaf Charity, MBA², Kristen Lawler, BA², (1) St. Catherine of Siena Medical Center, Setauket, New York, (2) Inflexxion, Inc., Newton, Massachusetts

Introduction: painCAS™ Beta is an electronic clinical tool that assesses and tracks pain patients over time, and includes the SOAPP-R® and COMM™. This study hypothesized that painCAS Beta would increase the frequency of risk assessment administration and documentation, and improve clinical workflow. Methods: Two specialty pain treatment settings utilized painCAS™ Beta instead of paper-pencil versions of the SOAPP-R and COMM. Chart reviews were conducted at baseline and post-intervention to measure change in risk assessment documentation. The chart reviews included 66 charts at baseline and 39 charts at post-intervention. Providers and administrative staff were interviewed at baseline and post-intervention about workflow related to the assessing patient’s opioid risk. During the intervention phase, patients received painCAS Beta assessments and reports were integrated into the EMR. Perceptions of the impact of painCAS Beta on clinical processes a suggestions for recommendations were collected from clinical (N =7) and administrative staff (N=8) interviews at baseline and post-intervention. Results: At baseline, paper versions of the SOAPP-R and COMM were in use and 40.9% of charts included an opioid risk assessment, compared to 79.5% of post-intervention charts; an increase of 38.6%. The findings also identified specific barriers to implementation of the painCAS Beta and benefits. Conclusions: painCAS Beta significantly improved the likelihood that risk assessments were documented in the EMR and presumably performed. Incorporating painCAS Beta into existing clinical workflows was a challenge, although some time saving benefits were noted. Specific enhancements are needed to painCAS Beta to improve its ability to integrate into clinical workflow.

Funding: Endo Pharmaceuticals Educational Grant.