Does Patient-Reported Outcome Measures Use at New Foot and Ankle Patient Clinic Visits Improve Patient Activation, Experience, and Satisfaction?

Category: Other; Ankle Introduction/Purpose: Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) can help predict clinical outcomes and improve shared clinical decision-making discussions. There remains a paucity of research assessing how the use of PROMs may drive improved patient experience and patient activation. This randomized, controlled trial study objectives: 1) Determine if the active use and discussion of PROMs during new patient visits are associated with patient satisfaction and experience 2) Determine if the active use and discussion of PROMs during new patient clinic visits are associated with patient activation; and 3) To determine if the objectives (1) and (2) differ based on surgeon or sociodemographic factors. Methods: This Institutional Review Board (IRB) approved singled-blinded RCT was registered prior to data collection on ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04654910). As a standard of care, new foot and ankle patients completed PROMIS Physical Function (PF), Pain Interference (PI), and Depression assessments. Patients were then randomized to viewing and discussing their PROMIS scores with their surgeon or not. Following the clinic visit, patients completed a series of Clinician & Group Survey-Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (CG-CAHPS) questions and the Patient Activation Measure (PAM). CG-CAHPS findings and PAM responses were compared between the two groups and after clustering on surgeon. Potential interaction effects by social deprivation were also explored. Results: After enrolling patients but removing those lost to follow-up or with missing data, 97 and 116 patients remained in the intervention control cohorts, respectively. No difference was found in CG-CAHPS responses, nor PAM scores between the two groups (p>0.05). All surgeons were highly rated by all patients. When clustered by surgeon, intervention subjects were less likely to indicate “top box” scores for the understanding domain of the CG-CAHPS question (OR:0.51;p < 0.001) and had decreased odds of high patient activation compared to control subjects (OR:0.67;p=0.005). Among the most socially disadvantaged patients, there was no difference in control and intervention subjects in their likelihood of having high patient activation (p=0.09). Conclusion: Well perceived foot and ankle surgeons who show and discuss PROMs results may not improve the patient experience or activation and may, in fact, decrease understanding or patient activation in select populations. Future work is needed to determine when PROMs discussions are most beneficial and how best to present PROMs data. Health literacy tools and/or communication training may better engage different patient groups regarding PROMs.