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

Abstract

1587 Background: Rehabilitation services (physical medicine and rehabilitation [PM&R], physical therapy [PT], occupational therapy [OT], and speech-language pathology [SLP]) improve physical function, symptom burden, and quality of life for cancer survivors, yet utilization remains low due to persistent barriers. The collaborative care model–based Enhanced Electronic Health Record–Facilitated Cancer Symptom Control (E2C2) pragmatic trial improved symptom burden and palliative care utilization. Using post hoc exploratory analyses of population-level trial data, we evaluated whether this EHR-facilitated approach also increased rehabilitation service use. Methods: E2C2 was conducted across Mayo Clinic Midwest medical oncology practices using an unblinded, stepped-wedge, cluster-randomized cohort design. The EHR-embedded intervention targeted SPPADE symptoms (sleep interference, pain, impaired physical function, anxiety, depression, and fatigue). Symptoms and physical function were assessed using 11-point numerical rating scales linked to oncology encounters. Patients received self-management materials for moderate symptoms (4–6/10) and care manager support for severe symptoms (7–10/10). All outpatient rehabilitation encounters across the Mayo Clinic Enterprise were abstracted. Mixed-effects Poisson models estimated intervention effects on rehabilitation visits during the first 365 days of exposure. Results: Between March 28, 2019, and January 31, 2023, 50,207 patients were enrolled. Intervention and control conditions included 31,719 and 28,938 patients, respectively, with 10,450 contributing data to both periods. Cross-sectionally, 25% of participants reported moderate and 9% severe physical function impairment. Of 91,220 rehabilitation encounters scheduled, 57,669 (63.3%) were completed. Completed encounters were predominantly PT (68.3%), followed by OT (16.4%), physician visits (9.4%), and SLP (4.2%). The intervention was associated with a more than fourfold increase in completed rehabilitation encounters during the six weeks following index symptom assessment (adjusted mean 2.22 [95% CI, 0.14–4.29] vs 0.54 [0.40–0.68]; incidence rate ratio 4.11 [1.43–11.82]; P =0.009). Scheduled encounters also favored the intervention but did not reach statistical significance. Conclusions: An EHR-embedded symptom surveillance intervention increased short-term rehabilitation service completion, but overall utilization remained low relative to the prevalence of physical function impairment, highlighting the need for system-level strategies to translate symptom identification into sustained rehabilitation engagement.