Mercy Oncology Services

 

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Michelle Eichelmann
Executive Director Oncology Services and Precision Medicine
Mercy, Mercy Oncology Services
Saint Louis, Missouri

Smart-Texting High-Risk Patients After Chemotherapy Reduces ED Visits

This machine learning algorithm runs nightly and is linked to a smart texting application that goes out to patients every morning for 7 days following chemotherapy, asking about symptoms like diarrhea, fever, nausea, vomiting, and pain. Patients reporting severe or worsening symptoms have the smart text escalated to the oncology clinic where they received chemotherapy. Initial analysis broken down by responders (those that opted in and answered the daily text messages) and non-responders (opted out or opted in but did not answer the texts) found that ED visits were 5.7% for responders compared to 6.7% for non-responders. Across the health system, about 30 responders are added daily to the program.

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Smart-Texting High-Risk Patients After Chemotherapy Reduces ED Visits

Quality measure OP-35—the first chemotherapy-specific measure in the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Hospital Outpatient Quality Reporting Program—went into effect for payment determination in 2020. In preparation, Mercy, Mercy Oncology Services, in St. Louis, Missouri, analyzed 90,000 of their qualifying chemotherapy visits that met the criteria for measure OP-35 and identified the clinical variables associated with patients’ increased risk of hospital admissions or emergency department visits. Based on that data, Mercy developed a predictive algorithm that identifies and manages chemotherapy patients who are at high risk.
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