Impact of an Atrial Fibrillation Decision Support Tool (AFDST) on Thromboprophylaxis for Atrial Fibrillation

Impact of an Atrial Fibrillation Decision Support Tool (AFDST) on Thromboprophylaxis for Atrial Fibrillation

Impact of a Quality Improvement And Education Initiative on 'Appropriate' Use of Anticoagulant Therapy in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation

Study objective was to improve decision-making and thromboprophylaxis for patients with Atrial Fibrillation (AF) by developing and implementing a computerized decision support tool for individual patient-level decision-making about oral anticoagulant therapy. To accomplish these goals, the investigators studied the incremental impact of adding a quality-improvement (QI) intervention to an educational package (for practice staff and clinicians) using a computerized aid, the Atrial Fibrillation Decision Support Tool (AFDST) for individual patient-level decision-making about oral anticoagulant therapy in patients with non-valvular AF. The decision support tool incorporates individual patients' risk factor profiles for ischemic stroke and bleeding and provides a recommendation for treatment based upon the projected quality-adjusted life expectancy gained or lost with the addition of either oral anticoagulant therapy or aspirin compared with no thromboprophylaxis.

Setting - Cluster randomized trial. Setting - Primary care practices of an integrated healthcare system. Participants - 1,493 adults with non-valvular AF seen between April 2014 and March 2015. Intervention - Treatment recommendations were made by an Atrial Fibrillation Decision Support Tool (AFDST) based on projections for quality-adjusted life expectancy calculated by a decision analytic model that integrates patient-specific risk factors for stroke and hemorrhage.

Educational Intervention Only - Educational package was delivered as 2 didactic noon-conferences on atrial fibrillation with a review of up-to-date anticoagulation guidelines for stroke prevention, and distribution of educational materials. Physicians delivering the noon conference series at all of the general internal medicine and primary care practice sites included 3 stroke neurologists, 2 cardiologists, and a general internist (PI) who were co-investigators in this study. Internists who were faculty at the University of Cincinnati and Internal Medicine residents also had an opportunity to participate in the first of the noon conferences in a special Department of Medicine Grand Rounds delivered by the PI. All practices (intervention and control groups) received the educational package focused on physicians, and clinical and non-clinical staff who would be involved in this QI process.

Educational Intervention plus Decision Support - Physicians in the intervention arm received a practice-level and physician-level summary report via a secure web site designed for patients with treatment recommendations that were discordant with current therapy, along with an explanation for the recommendation, the gain or loss in QALYs predicted by the decision model and the current 2014 ACC/AHA/HRS guidelines. Providers were also reminded of upcoming visits for patients being seen within the next week so they could review their reports and use them in discussions with their patients.

Provision of recommended antithrombotic therapy based on atrial fibrillation decision support tool that uses both stroke and bleeding risk

Changes in the proportion of patients with current therapy that was discordant from the decision support tool recommendation between the start and finish date of the study (one year period).

Change in discordance between decision support tool recommendation and actual treatment among patients whose physicians reviewed the decision support tool report.

Inclusion Criteria: Study subjects were physicians in our primary care network. Patients included in the study were identified through our health system's clinical data store with an International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM), diagnosis of atrial fibrillation (427.31) or atrial flutter (427.32) Exclusion Criteria: Diagnoses of mitral valve disease (394.x), aortic valve disease (395.x), heart valve transplant (V42.2) or heart valve replacement (V42.3).

Eckman MH, Lip GY, Wise RE, Speer B, Sullivan M, Walker N, Kissela B, Flaherty ML, Kleindorfer D, Baker P, Ireton R, Hoskins D, Harnett BM, Aguilar C, Leonard AC, Arduser L, Steen D, Costea A, Kues J. Impact of an Atrial Fibrillation Decision Support Tool on thromboprophylaxis for atrial fibrillation. Am Heart J. 2016 Jun;176:17-27. doi: 10.1016/j.ahj.2016.02.009. Epub 2016 Feb 19.