The Value of Managing Acute Pancreatitis With Standardized Order Sets to Achieve "Perfect Care"

We aimed to define perfect care index (PCI) metrics and to evaluate whether implementation of standardized order sets would improve outcomes without increasing hospital-based charges in patients with acute pancreatitis (AP).

This is a retrospective, pre-post, observational study measuring clinical quality, processes of care, and hospital-based charges at a single tertiary care center. The first data set included AP patients from August 2011 to December 2014 (n = 219) before the implementation of a standardized order set (Methodist Acute Pancreatitis Protocol [MAPP]) and AP patients after MAPP implementation from January 2015 to September 2018 (n = 417). The second data set included AP patients (n = 150 in each group) from January 2013 to September 2014 (pre-MAPP) and January 2018 to September 2019 (post-MAPP) to evaluate perfect care between the 2 cohorts after controlling for systemic inflammatory response syndrome at baseline. Length of stay, PCI, and hospital-based charges were measured.

The post-MAPP cohort had a significantly shorter length of stay (median, 3 days vs 4 days; P = 0.01). In the second data set, PCI significantly increased after implementation of MAPP order sets (5.3%-35.3%, P < 0.0001).

The MAPP order sets increased the value of care by improving clinical outcomes without increasing hospital-based charges.