Semiautomated System for Nonurgent, Clinically Significant Pathology Results

Failure of timely test result follow-up has consequences including delayed diagnosis and treatment, added costs, and potential patient harm. Closed-loop communication is key to ensure clinically significant test results (CSTRs) are acknowledged and acted upon appropriately. A previous implementation of the Alert Notification of Critical Results (ANCR) system to facilitate closed-loop communication of imaging CSTRs yielded improved communication of critical radiology results and enhanced adherence to institutional CSTR policies.

This article extends the ANCR application to pathology and evaluates its impact on closed-loop communication of new malignancies, a common and important type of pathology CSTR.

This Institutional Review Board-approved study was performed at a 150-bed community, academically affiliated hospital. ANCR was adapted for pathology CSTRs. Natural language processing was used on 30,774 pathology reports 13 months pre- and 13 months postintervention, identifying 5,595 reports with malignancies. Electronic health records were reviewed for documented acknowledgment for a random sample of reports. Percent of reports with documented acknowledgment within 15 days assessed institutional policy adherence. Time to acknowledgment was compared pre- versus postintervention and postintervention with and without ANCR alerts. Pathologists were surveyed regarding ANCR use and satisfaction.

Acknowledgment within 15 days was documented for 98 of 107 (91.6%) pre- and 89 of 103 (86.4%) postintervention reports (p = 0.2294). Median time to acknowledgment was 7 days (interquartile range [IQR], 3, 11) preintervention and 6 days (IQR, 2, 10) postintervention (p = 0.5083). Postintervention, median time to acknowledgment was 2 days (IQR, 1, 6) for reports with ANCR alerts versus 6 days (IQR, 2.75, 9) for reports without alerts (p = 0.0351). ANCR alerts were sent on 15 of 103 (15%) postintervention reports. All pathologists reported that the ANCR system positively impacted their workflow; 75% (three-fourths) felt that the ANCR system improved efficiency of communicating CSTRs.

ANCR expansion to facilitate closed-loop communication of pathology CSTRs was favorably perceived and associated with significant improved time to documented acknowledgment for new malignancies. The rate of adherence to institutional policy did not improve.