Effect of an EHR-facilitated symptom surveillance intervention on rehabilitation utilization in cancer patients.

Key Points

• This research evaluates if an EHR-facilitated symptom surveillance intervention enhances rehabilitation service use among cancer patients.
• Conducted as a pragmatic trial using a cluster-randomized cohort design across Mayo Clinic Midwest medical oncology practices.
• Intervention targeted SPPADE symptoms and provided self-management materials or care manager support based on symptom severity.
• Mixed-effects Poisson models analyzed rehabilitation visit data during the first 365 days.
• The intervention led to a more than fourfold increase in completed rehabilitation encounters post-assessment (incidence rate ratio 4.11 [1.43–11.82], P=0.009).
• Of 91,220 scheduled rehabilitation encounters, 63.3% were completed, primarily physical therapy (68.3%).
• Despite increased short-term service completion, overall rehabilitation utilization remained low relative to physical function impairment.