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Clinical Documentation Physician Compensation Incentives

NCT05527977 · Status: COMPLETED · Phase: NA · Type: INTERVENTIONAL · Enrollment: 32

Last updated 2024-01-25

No results posted yet for this study

Summary

Clinical documentation which omits significant medical details negatively affects communication among physicians and impedes the diagnostic process. Clinical documentation may be improved by using compensation incentives. Therefore, compensation incentives are a compelling mechanism to promote documentation of significant medical details to improve the diagnostic process.

The investigators' proposed project will use physician compensation incentives to improve documentation of clinically significant details for six common diagnoses in outpatient general internal medicine. The investigators will choose clinically significant details which more accurately represent patient complexity, improve the diagnostic process, and have potential to improve patient outcomes. To determine whether compensation incentives improve documentation of clinically significant details, the investigators will compare physicians' baseline documentation to incentivized documentation. The purpose of the investigators' project is to improve communication of clinically significant diagnostic information among physicians, thereby reducing suboptimal treatment plans, overuse, medical error, and cognitive burden upon physicians.

Conditions

  • Compensation Incentives
  • Clinical Documentation
  • Physician Work Environment
  • Diagnostic Error

Interventions

BEHAVIORAL

Compensation Incentives to improve Clinical Documentation

The investigators have identified six Diagnoses of Interest for the initiative. For each Diagnosis of Interest, the investigators have specified a series of clinically significant diagnostic details. Each physician will receive a compensation bonus from a pool of $20,000 based on the absolute number of times that he or she appropriately documented a Diagnosis of Interest. The investigators will use SQL Server Management Studio 18.0 to create an initial dataset using ICD-10 codes from office visits during which a Diagnosis of Interest was addressed. The investigators will compare documentation during the 12-week against a 6-week period prior to the intervention. The 6-week period will not be used to determine compensation bonuses. Two blinded research assistants will review H\&P's and progress notes from extracted visits to tabulate the number of times that clinical documentation met expectations.

Sponsors & Collaborators

  • Rush University Medical Center

    lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

  • David S Burstein, MD MS · Assistant Professor

Study Design

Allocation
NON_RANDOMIZED
Purpose
HEALTH_SERVICES_RESEARCH
Masking
SINGLE
Model
SEQUENTIAL

Eligibility

Sex
ALL
Healthy Volunteers
Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start
2022-09-26
Primary Completion
2022-12-16
Completion
2023-10-01

Countries

  • United States

Study Locations

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Read the full study record

This page highlights key information. For complete eligibility criteria, study locations, investigator contacts, and the full protocol, visit the original record on ClinicalTrials.gov.

View NCT05527977 on ClinicalTrials.gov